


Red and Scarlet: The origins of evil

by RiceBullet



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Bad Parenting, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Crossover, Damian Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Damian Wayne is a Little Shit, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Evil!Marinette, F/M, Good To Be Bad, Guardian Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Lila Rossi Lies, MLBxDC, MariBat, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Mentioned Alya Césaire and Nino Lahiffe, Protective Jason Todd, References to Depression, Villain Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Villain Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 20
Words: 59,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22775545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiceBullet/pseuds/RiceBullet
Summary: Ladybug was defeated.Betrayed, lost, thrown in the mud, the only thing she has left now is hate.Jason is lonely.Rejected by his family, misunderstood by everyone, the only thing he has left are his weapons.Two souls consumed by the world who together will find comfort with each other. But the madness that surrounds them may well bring them to an end.This story isn't some cute, sweet story. It's Dark.It's the story of a girl's descent into hell who gradually goes insane and who will take others with her.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Plagg & Tikki, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd, No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 181
Kudos: 584





	1. Bad day

**Author's Note:**

> I had originally posted this story under the nickname "GreenYou", but due to a number of problems I had to delete my account. So I'm re-posting the story, this time in English, hoping you'll like it. 
> 
> This work is inspired by:  
> \- The fiction "Keeping You Warm" written by DesertSnowQueen on AO3,  
> \- "The New Lady of Gotham" found on Tumblr here: https://someone-ev.tumblr.com/.  
> \- The song "Partners in Crime" by Set It Off was also very inspiring.

Ladybug was running through the rooftops of Paris with hardly any breath.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap.

**Apocalypse.**

It was probably the most appropriate word to describe the chao that reigned in Paris.

The buildings were collapsing one after the other. All over the capital screams and tears could be heard. Some were desperately trying to help their loved ones, their friends, their neighbors buried under rubble. Others tried to keep their injured friends safe, while cracks spread to the ground.

Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap.

**Powerlessness.**

It was the only word capable of describing what the favorite heroine of Parisians felt. She had failed. She was still reliving the last few hours in a loop in her head.

Locked in her room, the little bluenette was sewing. Earlier in the day she had been humiliated by Lila Rossi, **again**. This bitch had deliberately hit her with her cup of hot coffee. She then began to cry, screaming that Marinette had spilled coffee on her.

This had earned her more hours of detention for again mistreating her poor classmate. Her old friends were all against her now, manipulated by this viper. At this point she didn't even try to defend herself anymore. Why was she wasting her tongue when everyone had already condemned her?

She had preferred to go home through the back door, so she wouldn't have to explain herself to her parents. It was only a short respite, however, as soon as the college called them... Oh God, she would be punished until the grave...

Only three people still supported her: Tikki, Kagami and Luka. The only ones who didn't doubt her, the only ones who still listened to her. The only ones who tried to console her. All the others had abandoned her. Even Adrien, who had dangled his support in front of her, had cowardly abandoned her. And to think she'd fallen in love with a coward.

After a few hours of work, she was tired and had finally turned off her computer. That's when she saw the Ladyblog's notification. A click on the video confirmed to her that they had an akuma in town, accompanied by a monster created by Mayura who was causing havoc.

"I am Explosivo! After so much good and loyal service to my fellow citizens, you dare to fire me for a mistake that wasn't even mine? Now Paris will pay for this injustice! So, try to maintain order now! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The villain climbed on the Mayura's monster, which was a kind of flaming bird. The thing flew away and Explosivo started shooting explosive balls without any distinction. On buildings, on civilians, everything exploded.

_By all Kwamis, this story is going to end badly..._

She transformed and ran to the spot. As usual, she was alone against her attackers. For several months now, Cat Noir had not helped her in battle, or hardly helped her at all. He would either always arrive late or at the very end of the battles just to flirt with her.

The fight was rough and Ladybug had to use her Lucky Charm. It was a teapot. The message was clear, she must go to Master Fu. Immediately, the heroine hid in an alley before de-transforming to go to the old man's home.

The first thing that concerned her was the silence that reigned in the place. Nothing could be heard, not even the sound of pigeons. Everything was completely silent. It wasn't normal. She was going to knock on the door, but the door was open. She didn't get any answer. That was the second thing that surprised her. Fear and doubt entered her heart. Despite everything, the little heroine walked in.

The place was completely devastated. The jewel box containing the Miraculous was on the floor in pieces, visibly empty. And most importantly, in the middle of the room was a person. The horrified cry of his Kwami did not help the situation.

"Mas... Master Fu... n-no..."

They rushed over him. The old man was bathed in a pool of blood, a knife had been planted in his heart. The smell of blood went up to their noses. The heroine of Paris was petrified, not knowing what to do. Panic was mounting in her. Her goddess of creation frantically shook the old man, howling, tears streaming profusely from her little cheeks.

That's when the ground started shaking. The walls began to crack. Marinette saw how the wall began to get dangerously close, but she did not move. Fear had literally frozen her on the spot. She felt something grab her by the collar and pull her under a table at full speed. It was Tikki.

For a few seconds everything went black. Then a cynical laugh invades the room. It was the akumatized person. Without any hesitation, the villain began to shoot multicolored marbles everywhere. When the marbles touched a surface, they exploded.

The young ladybug didn't move from her hiding place, the chewing sounds of Tikki was the only thing she was concentrating on at the moment, trying to ignore the explosions as well as the sound of the walls threatening to collapse. At one point or another, she had retrieved the macaroon that was in her satchel. Marinette concentrated on her breathing. It was not yet time to panic, she had to be strong... She was proud, she was strong, she was Ladybug! If the akuma was purified and her “ _miraculous ladybug”_ was released, then everything would return to normal.

She then clung to the idea. With renewed courage, her eyes met Tikki's.

"Tikki, spot on!"

Immediately, Ladybug came out of the rubble. Of course, the villain threw himself on her. A fight ensued. Just as she was about to overpower him, she was hit by something that made her let go. Her gaze fell to the ground on the object at fault for her sudden temple ache.

A fan. Mayura had made her entrance.

Thanks to several acrobatic back flips, Ladybug moved away from her enemies. It was then that Cat Noir graciously landed beside her. At first relieved to have reinforcements, she let out a sigh.

"Kitten, you fall well, take care of Mayura until I can purify the akuma."

"With pleasure my Lady"

However, instead of rushing on Mayura, he passed his arms around her to immobilize her. He then whispered in her ear.

"I'm sorry."

At first shocked, she quickly regained her composure and began to struggle. Mayura graciously retrieved her fan and began to move towards them. In a desperate gesture, she tilted her head violently backwards with all her might, hitting Chat Noir on the chin. The pain made him let go slightly. She took the opportunity to inflict an elbow on his rib. The Cat let escape a cry of pain.

She didn't ask for the rest to run away.

-XxxX-

**Nightmare.**

Ladybug was in the middle of a nightmare. As she ran away, she was hit in the back by an explosive ball. Others hit the roof she was standing on. The explosives caused severe damage to the structure of the building which began to collapse. Ladybug's fell down. She was buried under rubble. Using her yo-yo, she spun it around at full speed to use it as a drill and managed to get out of the rubble. While her Ladybug's suit was supposed to protect her from all outside attacks, it was torn in several places. Her body was bruised. Alas, as soon as she was out of the rubble, all hell broke loose. Cat Noir, Mayura and Explosivo attacked her from all sides. She dodged the blows as best she could.

Cat Noir tried to catch her, but she managed to duck again. That was all she had left for now, the dodge. However, the akumatized one managed to hit her head, throwing her against the only wall still standing. A sharp pain spread all over his body. Getting up as best she could, the eurasian girl felt a hot liquid begin to flow down her neck. A disturbing noise began to resound.

_**BIP, BIP, BIP, BIP, BIP, BIP.** _

Her left earring was torn off on impact. She slowly began to un-transform. Her tears began to flow again. She staggered and leaned against the cracked wall. The bluenette was shaking all over her body. Her Ladybug uniform disappeared, leaving a disturbing bluish mark on her body, traces of cuts and scratches.

-XxxX-

Cat Noir watched her with an unreadable gaze. The akumatized one was standing on his left, soon joined by Mayura who placed herself on his right. The monster she had created began to fly over the place. It was a bird, like an eagle, completely covered with red flame and spitting blue fire.

Explosivo stepped forward, picked up the earring now on the ground, with a smile of satisfaction. He straightened up and looked in the direction of the heroin. Only a few straps of her clothing could be seen, her transformation being extremely slow.

"You're finished Ladybug, you have nowhere to go, give me your Miraculous!"

Marinette hid her ear with her left hand. She was out of breath, exhausted. Despite this, she stared her opponent in the eye. You could see her determination.

"Never."

A Machiavellian laugh resounded in the building. Hawk Moth was in full euphoria, his moment of glory had finally arrived. Chat Noir took his turn to speak, while advancing towards the young girl.

"My Lady, be reasonable, give him your Miraculous, then we can finally be toget-"

"SHUT UP! I TRUSTED YOU! I TRUSTED YOU!"

"My Lady... That's - "

Cat Noir was cut off by an explosion that occurred between him and his dulcine, causing him to step back a few steps. When he raised his head again, his Lady was inside a green sphere. Was that The Shield of Carapace? But instead of the hero was a small green turtle. The little creature stared at him with a cold, piercing look.

Before anyone can say a word, the place suddenly fills with mist. Longg, the dragon Kwami who had caused the explosion with his lightning element, was now using his water element to make mist. Several thin voices were heard resonating in the place like the sound of a current.

"We won't let you hurt the little bug!"

"DEATH TO THE BUTTERFLY!"

"You will pay for what you did to Master Fu!"

"You'll never get us!”

A rain of bananas began to fall. Mayura taken by surprise, received several bananas on her head and immediately lost control of the monster she had created. The latter began to spit fire all over the city without her being able to do anything about it. Hundreds of feathers began to fly all over Paris. Other monsters began to appear everywhere accordingly. Indeed, her power was activated alone. Nathalie tried to get away from the fog by jumping, but before she could realize it, a voice was heard behind her.

"VENOM!"

The woman with the red wick was paralyzed. Her face was frozen in an expression of surprise. Triixx, the Fox Kwami took the opportunity to tear off the brooch on her chest with violence, while Kaalki, the Horse Kwami opened a gate for their friend Pollen to push her inside.

Hawk Moth champion started shooting explosive balls everywhere without being able to control himself. One of them hit Cat Noir - who was concentrating on dodging bananas - in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. When Xuppu saw him fall, he stopped the banana proliferation. The traitor cat immediately got up, just in time to see his father's secretary disappear through a portal.

"NOOOO!"

He leapt forward to try to catch her in vain. Mad with rage he tried to hit the Kwamis with his stick, screaming like a possessed. In his haste, the blond was hit by a banana - courtesy of Xuppu-. As a reaction to the fruity attack, his cataclysm was unleashed. Adrien tried in vain to control it, while dodging the assaults of the Kwamis. It was then that Stompp, the Kwami buffalo succeeded in giving him a headbutt on his back which made him lose his balance, he "cataclysmed" the ground. The ground fell at his feet. During his fall, a stone fell on his head and knocked him out instantly. Fluff, the rabbit kwami was the one who removed the cat's ring while he was unconscious, his body half buried under rubble. The flying rabbit put the ring in a small bag containing all the other jewels that Master Fu had given them earlier.

The akumatized villain took advantage of the confusion to escape with the earring he had managed to steal. None of the Kwamis sought to catch up with him.

-XxxX-

Marinette had witnessed the stunned scene. How was that possible? The Miraculous' box had been looted. She had seen it with her own eyes, there was no more jewelry.

"Y-Y-You... H-How?"

Wayzz removed his shield and slowly turned to the young Ladybug. He had a sad expression. The little turtle began his explanation.

"When Master Fu realized that Hawk Moth was coming for him, he liberated us all and entrusted the jewels. We had to find you in order to entrust them to you...”

Ladybug dropped to her knees. Her transformation had disappeared, and she was succeeded by a young schoolgirl with blue eyes and hair tied up in two pigtails. She could feel the blood dripping from her ear. She could feel every cut on her body. Her head was spinning, her eyes were misty with tears.

"I failed Wayzz, guys... I failed... Tikki, my poor Tikki... She’s... She’s..."

"Marinette my child, time is running out, we will soon return to our jewels to sleep. You must absolutely leave here before Hawk Moth or Mayura returns.”

Sass's phrase had the merit of throwing a bowl of ice water on the eurasian girl. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He was right, if she stayed in Paris Hawkmoth would not let her go now that he had obtained one of her earrings. Moreover, assuming that the explosive villain was waiting for her ... it also meant that his enemy knew her identity. His family was in danger. What few friends she still had were in danger. The Miraculous could never fall into the wrong hands, ever. Hawkmoth, Mayura, and Cat Noir were proof of that.

She opened her eyes and looked at all the Kwamis present. They were her friends, too. They had to be protected at all costs.

Fluff approached her, handing her the small bag containing all the Miraculous. Marinette took the bag in her hands. Wayzz then walked up to her and spoke.

"Marinette, from now on you will be the new guardian of the Miraculous instead of Master Fu. The Master... had placed great hope in you. We trust you and we will follow you. From this day on, we Kwami swear allegiance to Master Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

All the Kwamis nodded in unison.

The bluenette took a little time to assimilate everything that had just happened. After clearing her throat, she decided to speak.

"Thank you. Sass is right, we have to leave this place. Kaalki, you who can teleport anywhere... opens a portal that will take us far from here... The destination doesn't matter, as long as it's as far away as possible."

The little horse nodded and opened a portal. Marinette got up and crossed it.

Once on the other side of the portal she found herself alone. The Kwamis had returned to their state of sleep.

Mechanically, she began to walk without looking where she was going. Marinette ends up hitting something. She heard vaguely voices that seemed distant. Her attention turned to her bloody hands. She saw that her jewelry bag was on the ground. Her whole body began to tremble. The tremors became more intense, soon accompanied by a sob.

Memories began to overwhelm her. Lila's machinations, her friends turning her back, Master Fu's death, Cat Noir's betrayal, the beatings, the pain. Tikki disappearing.

At that moment, all the emotion she had tried to contain until now left her at once. Marinette thought then heard a scream.

It was her.

-XxxX-

It was supposed to be an ordinary night for Jason Todd.

He was going to go out and punch a few criminals in the neighborhood, then go shopping in a local convenience store to fill his fridge. And why not start a new series?

He had already identified his future targets. Drug dealers who had the nerve to move into his neighborhood... There were only two more, one bullet each! It was PERFECT! No really, tonight would be great. At least it was supposed to be, until he heard a scream that made the Joker go pale. He went to his window to see what was going on downstairs...

He could see three silhouettes.

A guy - who he quickly recognized as one of his targets of the day - was holding someone by the collar, while his sidekick was picking something up, maybe a bag?

He started to load his gun; at this distance the assets shouldn't be too complicated. Then suddenly without warning their victim started screaming again. From the sound of her voice, Jason deduced it was a kid.

« <[...] It... Drop it... DROP IT!!!>* »

_This girl is speaking in French, a tourist?_

The girl gave a violent blow to the man who was holding her. The guy released her surprised. She took the opportunity to give him a kick right between the legs. He couldn't stop laughing.

_Ahahaha! Nice shot!_

The guy dropped a knife -Jason hadn't seen when he pulled it out-, and immediately put his hands between his legs and fell forward.

“ARGH! Damn you, little brat!”

He saw the little girl take the knife in her hands quickly and threw herself on the second guy. He dodged her without too much difficulty. While attacking him, she continued to scream.

"<Let them go!! Let them go!!>"

Jason decided it would be more interesting to see the scene more closely. So, he opened his window and went down silently.

The brat was clearly not used to fighting with a knife. Her blows were random, she wasn't trying to kill him, just to make him drop the bag in his hands. The guy clearly seemed to be enjoying himself at her expense. Eventually he got bored and managed to grab her arm, no doubt he wanted to punch her. But to her great surprise -and Jason's-, she took the opportunity to lean on the arm of her assailant to give him a masterful knee in the face.

The guy screamed furiously as he stood his nose.

"BITCH, YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

He lunged at her. She dodged his blows without too much difficulty, at least at first. The fight seemed to be in her favor until she slipped and lost her balance -Jason wondered how such a thing was possible- and took a blow to the face, knocking her to the ground. The vermin decided it wasn't enough and started kicking her. She seemed to be trying to protect herself as best she could.

The first moron seemed to have recovered from his momentary castration and got up. He staggered towards his sidekick, a bad smile on his face.

Jason decided he'd seen enough.

"Sooo... Gentlemen, need a little help?"

The two men turned to him. He didn't give them time to fight back, no matter what that kind of scum might come out as an excuse to harass a little girl on the street. They happily served as a target.

When he reached the level of the corpses, he bent down to pick up the bag. Looking inside, he noticed that there were different types of jewelry. He then looked at the unconscious girl.

 _A little thief?_

He approached her. She was covered with bruises on her arms and face. Her face was covered with blood. A red spot was visible on her shirt and grew larger at a glance. Her injuries were quite serious. He took out his mobile phone to call an ambulance, and then he changed his mind. He couldn't help remembering who he was as a child. He thought he saw a specter of himself lying on the ground for a moment.

_Holy shit. I feel like I'm going to bitterly regret what I'm going to do._

He took the girl in his arms and brought her back to his place.

**This was supposed to be a peaceful night...**


	2. Red Hood and Ladybug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Marinette meet... What could have happened to that girl to make her so traumatized?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Since English is not my mother tongue, there may be mistakes. I apologize for that in advance. If you ever notice any language mistakes, please do not hesitate to point them out to me. 
> 
> \- When you see "<...>" in a dialogue, it means that the character speaks a language other than English. In this chapter, it's French.

“Look at what we have ... Tell me _my pretty_ , your parents have never told you to apologize when you jostled someone?”

Was someone talking? Who was it? Why was the world spinning?

“Hey, I'm talking bitch!"

"Hey dude, she's cute, we could have a little fun ..."

"Do you hear that _princess_? We're really going to enjoy ourselves. Just the three of us.”

Her vision was as if misty, she felt a grip on her neck. Air... She needed air. That's when she decided to open her eyes. When did she close them?

To her horror, Hawkmoth showed up. This psychopath was grabbing her by the collar of her jacket. He had the most cynical smile she'd ever seen. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cat Noir bending over to pick up a bag that was on the ground. At these sides she thought Mayura looked at her too, but she wasn't sure...her vision was still hazy.

Marinette's eyes widened when she recognized what her former partner had in his hands: it was the bag containing all the miraculous items.

No, no... no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO!!!!

“<Drop it...>”

Her voice came out like a whisper. Cat Noir was staring at her strangely. She didn't hear what he said, all her attention was focused on the bag he was holding in his hands.

“<Drop it...>”

Her voice grew louder. But this Cat moron didn't listen to her.

“<DROP IT !!>”

The cat was smiling. That idiot was laughing at her! To make matters worse, Hawk Moth grip grew stronger, forcing her to turn her attention back to him. Marinette decided it was time to wipe the smile off the ugly man's face. She gathered her last strength to give him a headbutt. Hawk Moth released her immediately. Taking advantage of his loss of balance she struck him a blow well placed. With that he wouldn't bother her anymore!

CLAK.

A metallic noise was heard. Turning quickly to the source of the noise, she noticed that it was the black cat stick that had just fallen to the ground. Why was it Hawk Moth who had the stick of this traitor? It didn't matter. She quickly grabbed it and threw herself at Cat Noir.

“<Drop it! Drop it!>”

The eurasian girl tried to touch him with her stick, but nothing could be done, the fool was agile. To top it all off, he sneered. Her body was heavy, her blows were clumsy. She was aching all over, and yet it was necessary to keep on attacking him again and again. The Miraculous had to be recovered at any cost!

Suddenly, Cat Noir took advantage of her moment of inattention to grab her arm. This was her chance! With a subtle flick of her wrist, she pulled him up to her. The cat became unbalanced and fell forward. Putting all her strength on her thighs, she jumped up to knee him in the face. She heard a creaking sound.

She never thought that breaking Cat Noir's nose could be so satisfying!

Her joy was short-lived. Cat Noir swore.

"YOU BITCH, YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

For a moment, she was confused. Did Cat just speak English?

He threw himself on her, his green eyes gleamed with anger. Blood ran from his nose.

_Serves you right, asshole!_

He dropped the bag and tried to punch her. It was her turn to make him go crazy! She dodged all his blows without harm. Unfortunately, her vision became blurred. Her body was letting go of her. NO! This was no time to give up! Fight, damn it, fight! She felt her body tilt. That second of weakness was enough for her attacker to deal her a fatal blow.

She fell to the ground. Her body was terribly heavy.

No... no, no, no, no, no! It couldn't end like this!

As she tried to get up, the feline started kicking her. She tried to protect herself. Then two firecrackers went off. Cat Noir gone.

As her vision became darker and darker, Marinette saw Mayura. She had completely forgotten her! The woman was standing in front of her. Her fan was hiding her face. Then, as if the world was turning completely in slow motion, the bearer of the peacock's miraculous closed her fan.

It wasn't Mayura.

That thing had Mayura’s body, but her head... This thing's face had no eyes. Its smile was much too pronounced. It was inhuman! The thing started laughing. A sinister, frightening laugh.

Suddenly the world began to turn, again and again... She felt herself falling into the void. She screamed, asking for help.

**Nobody came.**

During her fall, she saw all her classmates looking at her and laughing.

They laughed and laughed and laughed.

_Tikki... Oh Tikki, if only you were here..._

Marinette closed her eyes and cried. She wanted it all to stop!

-XxxX-

It was official, Jason Todd was not fit to be a babysitter.

For three days now, he had been forced to stay home to take care of a kid whose name he didn't even know. Why did he pick her up again? Oh, right. Yeah... Because she reminded him of the kid he was before he met Bruce. He started going around in circles in his living room.

"<No... No... Please stop... I trusted you! Why? Why? No... Don't...don't leave me...>”

His attention was drawn to the voice coming from his room. He heard her crying, screaming and begging to be left alone. For someone to leave her. He left his living room and went to the bedroom. On the bed, the girl was crying in her sleep. She was squirming all over the place, seemingly fighting an invisible enemy. He approached and sat down at the edge of the bed.

Her face was a little swollen, her body was bruised. When the vigilant brought her back the first night, he had to take her clothes off to treat her. She had to have stitches put in her right eyebrow, her stomach had been cut quite deeply and her left earlobe had suffered the same fate. When he had finished treating and disinfecting her wounds, the little girl looked like a mummy. At this point, she had a high fever. Seeing her frail body mummified in this way and her desperate cries for help, he could not help but draw some conclusions...

"<No... No... No!>”

Her voice brought him back to reality. Jason took the injured girl's hand and began to speak softly to her. This did not produce any results. Finally, determined to pull her out of the nightmare she was in -and because his patience had reached its limit-, he decided to change his method. The former Robin grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her.

"Hey, wake up! Wake up, Dammit!”

To the great contentment of the dark-haired man, the girl finally opened her eyes. Visibly lost, the little brunette fluttered her eyes a few times, then tried to stand up but was unable to do so, instead she let out a groan of pain.

"Thank God! I thought I was watching over a dead body. So? How are you feeling?"

As if by a miracle, the girl leapt up, not without letting out a scream -because otherwise it wouldn't be funny- and backed up to the wall, staring at him with exorbitant eyes. A long silence followed. The two staring at each other. Her with a terrified look, and him with a jaded look. Finally, it was her who broke the silence.

“< _I_... _Well >_...hmm... Who...you is? < _No uuuh_... _Oh, boy >_! Who... are you?”

Jason looked at her again for a moment, then decided to answer.

“You don't understand english don't ya?"

"Speak... English?"

"Yeah."

"< _No, I >_... I mean... hmm...no?"

"<You're lucky I can speak French kid.>"

"<You speak French?!>"

"<That's what I've just said.>"

"…”

The little brunette looked at him suspiciously while cowering a little more on herself.

_Shit_.

He didn't mean to be so fucking dry! That's why he preferred to hunt criminals; it was less of a headache. Okay, let's just calm down and fix this. He cleared his throat.

“<So... what's your name?>"

"<Marinette. How about you? Where am I?>"

"<Call me Jason, and this is my home.>"

"<All Right.>”

She was silent again. Her eyes wandered around the room with curiosity before she turned her attention to the second occupant of the room -which she identified as a bedroom-. Her gaze wandered between the bed and then Jason, and then the bed again. She was a little nervous. Her cheeks turned pinkish. Finally, she spoke again, fleeing the gaze of the person she was talking to.

"<I... Well, I mean, did... did you patch me up?>”

Understanding her embarrassment, he quickly explained to her that he had found her at the bottom of his building, deliberately omitting the murder of the two scumbags in the alley. He then told her that nobody in the neighborhood was a fan of the police, so he preferred to take her back to his place for treatment. Jason didn't hide from her that to do so, he had to take off her clothes. This information had the merit of making the girl scarlet.

His next move was to get up from the edge of the bed and go to a chest of a drawer, from which he removed a small bag containing several pieces of jewelry, which he then handed to her. When she saw the bag, her eyes filled with tears. Holding the bag in a feverish hand and carrying it to her chest, the girl cried silently.

The dark-haired man decided it was time to slip away.

-XxxX-

** Week 1: **

Their conversation was limited to the strict minimum. At the end of the second day, she insisted on changing her own bandages, not that he was complaining. They were both uncomfortable. Also, Marinette spent most of her time in the bedroom, only going out to clean herself. It was as if she was trying to make herself very small. At this point the vigilant was sure that if she could just disappear into the background she would. Not wanting to rush her, he gave her space.

He often heard her sobbing until late at night. When he would go out on patrol and come back in the early morning, he would hear her moving around the room, a sign that she had been up all night. However, she did not ask him about his movements. He was grateful to her for that.

At the end of the fourth day, she finally dared to ask him in a very small voice for something: clothes.

Yes indeed...

He had the feeling that he had forgotten something important lately...

He came back later with two bags full of women's clothes of all sizes and kinds - once out the dark-haired man realized that he hadn't thought to ask her for her size... -. At the sight of all these clothes, for the first time her eyes lit up. She thanked him warmly.

** Week 2: **

Jason was beginning to lose his patience. He felt like he had adopted a hamster. A small and fearful creature that he was feeding with burgers, pizza, french fries and soda - cooking was not his favorite activity at the moment-.

Okay, okay, he was a bad talker. She was trying to make an effort to communicate by asking him how his day was. It was the conversation of the century. Every time it was the same story. When she spoke, the girl was so red, he wondered if there wasn't a risk of instantaneous combustion. The girl was shy as hell!

He'd finally asked her a little bit more about her. She was evasive. He learned, however, that she was fourteen years old and that her favorite color was pink. She was also of Chinese origin but couldn't speak Mandarin. She would also be an only child. Ah yes, the brat was VERY clumsy too. Not a day went by without her bumping into something. She banged herself against open doors, drop things... At that point he wondered, how did natural selection miss this girl? It was a miracle to be alive with such a clumsiness.

He was frustrated by her silence.

Jason wasn't fooled, he knew his guest was hiding something. Those jewels she kept seemed to be very valuable to her. The little French girl always kept them with her, even when she was showering! He noticed that one piece of jewelry seemed to be her favorite: a silver ring that she had been wearing on her left hand for a while.

In view of her wounds and her screams, when she was delirious because of the fever that had hit her earlier, she was an abused child. And no doubt... She had also been assaulted one or more times by someone she trusted. That would explain her paranoia... -Jason had seen her startled several times by insignificant little noises such as a door closing too hard. Sometimes he'd even see her jump at the sight of her own shadow... She looked very regularly behind her and always managed to move around having him in her field of vision-.

This Marinette girl had escaped from hell. He was convinced. The big question was who was responsible for his hamster's distress... hmmm... his _guest_. Yeah, that's right, his guest.

He'd spent his week researching about her. He found nothing. No "Marinette" had been reported missing. In the government's database, no "Marinette" matched the description of the brunette. Nothing on the Gotham airport passenger lists. That said, it was not uncommon in Gotham for criminals to have children and not register them. He'd hung out in all the less traveled parts of the city, but still nothing. No one knew her.

That girl was a ghost.

Speaking of ghosts, it wasn't the only thing that bothered him.

Lately he felt like he was being watched. He had the strange feeling that he and the girl were not alone in the apartment. Sometimes a dark shadow seemed to pass through the room. Jason was sleep-deprived, it was the only explanation.

** Week 3: **

Lately, he's been wondering if the brat's not just crazy. She was talking to herself on a regular basis when there was no one in the room with her.

Another weird thing was that he was missing some pairs of socks. Well... maybe the mess in his house had something to do with it. But it was an organized mess! Usually he could always find his stuff.

Last but not least, Marinette had a black hole instead of a stomach. It had to be...because the astronomical amount of food that this kid had been eating lately was just inhuman. How could someone so stunted eat so much? Usually what he bought could last all week, but a simple race lasted only two days! She liked cheese a lot too apparently... It was the first thing to disappear from the fridge. A French habit, perhaps? He started buying more cheese.

His cell phone started vibrating, pulling him out of his daydream. It was a text message.

_"Base found [Building photo]"_

With the black hole story, he'd forgotten his job. He'd been tracking a group of traffickers for a few months now. They were selling young men previously kidnapped on the black market. The luckiest ones were used as whores, the others less fortunate ended up as guinea pigs for the psychopaths who came to stock up on "toys" for their sadistic games. The base being located near New York City... He was going to have to go away for a while.

His gaze turned to the bedroom door, which was locked. If this girl wanted to kill herself, she would have done it long ago. On the other hand, she might let herself starve to death for fear of leaving the apartment.

He glanced at his cell phone again. First and foremost, he was Red Hood. The brat was going to have to take care of herself. Not knowing yet what to do with the little brunette, he decided it was better to leave her a note than to go bothering her in the bedroom. He also left her a good amount of money in an envelope next to the note with her first name written on it.

He walked away. Not without one last look back...

-XxxX-

“How can you be so childish? Your sickly jealousy is really on a scary level, Marinette! Stop picking on Lila like that, it's really not worth it anymore!"

"Alya is right dudette, I understand that you have a soft spot for Adrien... But this is going too far... Going so far as to threaten Lila is..."

"Threatening Lila? Are you serious when you say that? Do you seriously think I'm-"

"Mari, you've already stolen Adrien's phone to erase a message, you invited yourself to his house when there was a boys' party, you invited yourself to the Ladybug movie show just to give him a macaroon, you confessed to helping Chloe play a trick on Kagami... Damn it, Marinette, you even have his schedule copied in your room, not to mention the pictures... I'm sorry, but when it comes to Adrian, you are anything but reasonable..."

"…”

This time, it was the first time that an argument broke out between Alya and Marinette about Lila. It heralded the beginning of a long descent into hell.

“Marinette, how could you push Lila down the stairs! It's so horrible... I didn't think you were capable of doing that...” – Mylene.

She got an hour's detention.

“Marinette... Is it true you refused to carry Lila's schoolbag when she asked you to? Why didn't you? You know she has arthritis, poor girl!”– Kim.

He refused to do her any favors after that.

“Marinette! How could you destroy the art class work?! Don't try to conveniently deny that only YOUR stuff is intact! Do you know how much time we spent on our artwork?! You are such a bitch!” – Alix.

This time she got two hours of detention for a week and was banned from the art classroom. Her parents grounded her for a whole month. They also became more distant.

“How could you say such a mean thing about us? I-I-I thought we were friends... You--you--I was wrong about you... When Lila said you threatened her, I didn't believe it, but...But...Now I know it's true. *snif*” – Rose.

She was banned from girls' meetings. It was decided that she would no longer be their friend until she publicly apologized for the _horrors_ , she had said about everyone. It was only _justice_.

Then came the _jokes_. Oh... was her sketchbook stained with ink? A simple accident. Oh, she was getting a shower, because of a bucket filled with toilet water? Simple misfortune. Oh man, she tripped in the canteen because someone put his leg in the way? It was just that she was too clumsy. What do you mean everyone was laughing at her expense? It wasn't their fault that the scene was really funny!

Then came _the hits_. It started with jostling in the corridor, preferably near the stairs. There was the elbowing in the ribs too... and the tripping in the hallway. Not to forget, getting hit in the face with a bag! Thumbtacks on the chair, glue in her bag. OH RIGHT! Sticking her head in the toilet bowl. That was a lot of fun too...

Only two people were immune to Lila's lies: Luka and Kagami. They were trying by all means to cheer her up. But they weren't in the same junior high school. They wanted to convince her to tell her parents about it too. Nevertheless, how could she trust her own parents who had already punished her because of Lila's lies?

Then came that famous day, which made her understand that she was alone. That she had no one left in that hypocritical place.

“Marinette... I thought I told you no? Humiliating the bad guys didn't turn them into good guys... Stop trying to expose Lila and let it go, she'll get bored. Even Ladybug has learned her lesson and don't talk to Lila, follow her example!"

"You're a coward..."

"What?"

"…”

That day, her love for Adrien Agreste died. As did her trust in humanity. Why go on being Ladybug? Because Tikki was her only source of comfort on a daily basis. Luka and Kagami were there, but not **all the time**.

She started to cry. When was this all going to end? How could people be so blind? So bad? Why was she defending those people? What was the meaning of her existence?

“It's not my fault, it's not me...I didn't do anything! I DIDN'T DO IT!"

"MARINETTE!”

Marinette got up in a hurry. As she was at the edge of the bed, her body had to face the painful law of gravity and crashed to the ground with a thud.

Thank God! It was just a nightmare.

** Again. **

The figure of Plagg floated above her aching head. The latter looked at her worried. She smiled at him.

“It's all right, Plagg. It was just a nightmare, it'll pass.”

Yes, since she was away from Paris, away from her classmates, away from her parents... Far from all this nightmare, everything was fine. Wiping away the tears that streamed from her eyes, she straightened up.


	3. It's not my fault!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette wants answers. She knows exactly WHO can give them to her.

** Two weeks earlier. **

Tic Tac Tic Tac.

A young bluenette girl was rolling around in bed. Her breathing was difficult, the harder she tried to calm down, the faster her heart got. Her distress was compounded by her trembling, her body seemed to have a will of its own, refusing to calm down as she hoped. Not being able to hold on any longer, the young lady sat down on her bed. The sheets were soaked, and for good reason, her body was wet from sweat. Tears streamed from her eyes.

Until when?

When would these horrible nightmares end?

_Luka... Kagami... Tikki... I miss you guys so much..._

How long had she been like that on that bed crying?

The girl didn't even dare look at the clock that hung on the wall of the room. Her panic attack had passed, but the effects were still being felt: her body was shaking. Her gaze turned to the only window in her room. The moonlight was shining on the small room. As her eyes followed the rays, one thing caught her attention. The rays of moonlight were illuminating the first drawer of the only chest of drawers in the room.

_I can't go on like this. I need answers that only **he** can give me._

Slowly, she stood up and walked to the dresser. With an ever-slow movement, her arms raised, allowing both hands to reach the handle. Such a mundane task. Yet so difficult when her whole body was numb. That incessant shaking prevented any fluidity in her movements.

Marinette pulled the handle gently. The drawer opened revealing its contents: a small beige bag. This small bag was dirty, black spots were visible on the fabric. It was tied with a black piece of string. Still trembling, she took the object in her hands. For a moment, the little bluenette was unable to move. As if the object was so heavy that the slightest movement would make her lose her balance and cause her to fall.

_Come on move... move... move... Dammit, Marinette, move!_

By an effort that seemed surrealistic to her, she managed to move her legs to get back to her bed. When she got close to her destination, her legs decided to let her go. Her body fall on the mattress, which was still wet. Still lying down, she set about opening the small bag and pouring the contents onto the mattress. Her hand was shaking, which did not make her task any easier. Finally, hidden in the middle of a bracelet and a necklace she found it: the ring of the black cat.

The young Parisian girl grabbed the ring and got up out of bed. She tried to put the ring on her finger. But her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn't do it.

But she had to! The need for answers was gnawing at her! She needed an explanation, someone to tell her why. Why the hell did Cat Noir betray his partner?

She bit her lip almost to the point of blood. After much perseverance, the teenager managed to put the ring on her left ring finger. A yellowish light illuminated the room. The ring lost its black tint with a green paw and turned silver. A small ebony-coloured creature appeared instead of a ball of light. It was the green-eyed Kwami cat with the power of destruction.

"P-Pl-Plaag... I-I... You..."

The words refused to come out. Her throat was on fire and her stomach was in a knot that hurt like hell. The only thing she managed to do was cry. That was all the young girl was capable of at that moment.

The flying black cat looked at her confused. He began to scour the room from all angles not recognizing the place. In his confusion he saw the jewels spread out on the mattress next to...

What was her name again? Merry? Magui? Ah yes, Marinette.

What was Tikki's protégée doing with all the Miraculous? Where was Adrien? Before his questions came out of his mouth, he looked more closely at the protégé of his dear _sugar cube_. Bandages were covering her arms and legs. Her porcelain complexion was marked by fatigue. Her eyes were... Oh, my God!

"What happened to you?! What's with all the bands?"

"Why?"

"Why what?!"

"Cat... He... Why... Why... WHY HAS HE BETRAYED ME?"

"Wait, what?"

"HE JOINED HAWK MOTH, HE BETRAYED ME! I TRUSTED HIM!! WHY?! MASTER FU IS DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM!! I HAD TO LEAVE BECAUSE OF HIM! WHY EH?! TELL ME WHY!"

"MASTER FU IS DEAD?!"

"You... didn't know?"

"HOW DID YOU EXPECT ME TO KNOW?! HOLY CRAP! Wait a minute... Where's Tikki?"

The only answer he got was tears, which sounded more like desperate cries. Okay, shit, he wasn't good at consoling people. He quickly moved closer to her face.

"Oye... Hey! Okay, calm down. Now, look at me. That's it. Now breathe.”

Marinette looked at him and began to imitate the Kwami. It took him almost thirty minutes to calm the girl down.

-XxxX-

"Well, um... Look, I don't remember much, so er... enlighten me?"

Thus, with great difficulty the Mini-bug told him all the events. Her day that had started badly, the attack of the akuma. The body of Master Fu, Adrien, who had probably changed sides. At the end of her story, the poor little girl was so on edge that she fell asleep immediately. The Kwami placed a blanket over her and stayed by her side. He had to digest the mass of information he had just received.

Only one thing was really clear in his mind: **he was angry**.

Plagg felt responsible for the turn of events, guilty for the distress of the child he had in front of him. He had noticed that his kitten was behaving strangely but blamed it on hormones. Teenagers were strange creatures, difficult to understand.

_No... I simply chose to play blind._

It all started after that kid Laura Broccoli or something... Or was it Lily Rosy? In other words, someone who didn't have the aristocracy and charisma of the Camembert.

He then realized that Tikki seemed more agitated. But hey, his sugar cube had always been a bit dramatic on the edges, it shouldn't be a big deal. Then came the _Oblivio case_. This akuma had caused Adrien to behave strangely. He was more insistent towards the ladybug. The number of images of Ladybug had almost doubled in his room, he didn't even know it was possible. The boy had also started making a list of places he wanted to take "his lady" to. This behaviour should have alerted him already, but...

Seriously, who cared about the junior-high romance? The Kwami of Destruction had better things to do! He had all these rare cheeses to taste! When his partner Kwami came to complain to him, he didn't even pay attention. A real crybaby!

When exactly, Plagg couldn't say, but...After a while, Adrien often took off his ring to go see his father. Photoshooting sessions where no jewellery was needed to avoid disturbing his father's "artistic fire". This was not his concern. And then...The blond seemed happy to spend time with his father. So, there was no problem in that, was there?

Time passed again... How long exactly? The Kwami had no idea and was not interested. After all, as a god of destruction, time passed differently for him. What he did know, however, was that Tikki's aura was becoming negative. To make matters worse, Adrien was refusing more and more often to go and help Ladybug. Whatever! That way he had more time to sleep and eat cheese, it was perfect!

_What a handsome fool I am..._

It was only one night that he understood the severity of the situation. Adrien was looking at a site on his computer. He heard him mumble something like, "That's going too far... " and then he left the room visibly disturbed. Curiosity struck him. He flew up to the screen and almost puked up all the camembert he had just swallowed. On the screen was a picture of Tikki's protégé completely soaked and covered with what appeared to be toilet paper.

"Holy Kwami!”

Using the computer mouse, he scrolled through the pictures. They were only pictures of the little ladybird, but not on her best day. Harassment... The girl was being harassed! Holy crap! And Adrien, who knew about it and didn't do anything? To his horror, the first pictures were five months old. No wonder Tikki's aura was so bad... When Adrien came back, he asked him for an explanation. The boy's answer left him speechless.

"Lila's a liar, but really, if we just ignore her, then she'll get bored! It's true that she crossed the line once by helping _Onichan_ but since then she hasn't done anything! Marinette's problem is that she decided to expose Lila at all costs... I'm sure that if she apologizes everything will be alright... Ah! Plagg I didn't show you the new picture I found of Ladybug, look!"

Plagg thought he was hallucinating. The next day he looked for the first opportunity to run away and look for Tikki. Tikki told him absolutely EVERYTHING her protégé had gone through since the return of the other one... Lila?

"Master Fu is aware of the situation...He's looking for a new Black Cat to work with my Ladybug."

"Oh? Really? Let me guess, he's pretending to fall down and look who's _simple-minded_ enough to help him up? That's a really effective method..."

"Plagg! Don't talk about the Guardian like that, he's doing his best!"

"Your naivety makes you a sweetheart... Almost as sweet as my delicious Camembert."

"You're just a stomach with paws!"

The cat of destruction decided it was better to laugh than to continue this conversation. Tikki was sometimes too simplistic. Or was she too much of a believer in her fellow man to see the monumental mistakes that the current guardian was making?

Seriously, who in their right mind would entrust extremely powerful magical jewels to children just out of their diapers? And look out, to fight a criminal who was an adult... Then honestly, did he have to talk about the recruitment process? Pretend to be in trouble to see if someone would help him, and then the first one to do so would become a Good Samaritan?

PLEASE!

Honestly, if it was an elementary school child who would have helped him, would he have given him the Miraculous? Raaa... That's why he liked cheese, so simple, so good...and so much easier to handle than humans.

Following this exchange, Plagg tried to talk some sense into his kitten. Alas, the kid was stubborn. He still often refused to fight, believing that "his Lady" was perfectly capable of handling the fighting alone. Furthermore, the flying cat noticed that his young protégé appeared more easily if there was another male hero alongside the heroine.

Indeed, now Ladybug was a trophy for the boy.

For a reason that still completely escaped the Kwami, Adrien had gotten it into his head that those with the ladybug's earrings and the cat's ring were destined to end up together... Really, kiddo? These two miraculous were two complementary parts, there had never been any question of predestination or soulmates!

A sob brought him back to reality.

He approached the former little Ladybug and sat on her head. This simple gesture had the effect of calming the poor teenage girl who was shedding tears in her sleep.

The past could not be erased, at least not without a heavy tribe. He couldn't go back on his mistakes, but he could rectify them.

_I swear on my precious camembert that I won't let anyone hurt you anymore Mini-bug, cat's honor!_

**PRESENT**

Marinette came out of her room. The house was empty... Jason wasn't there, but that wasn't unusual. The piece of paper on the coffee table and the envelope, on the other hand, was new. The girl went over and read her name on the back of the paper and on the envelope. She first took the letter and read the contents.

" _Hey Miss!_

_I have to leave for a few days (probably in 4 days it will be folded) for my work. I've left you something to live on until I get back. If you ever need anything, the web is your friend!_

_The WiFi code is: 5F/u-c*KbaT-m/A2n_

_The computer password is: Be$t_Gu6N)(F0-r_R°biN._

_Jason._

_P.S: Don't open to anyone while I'm gone.”_

Marinette did her best to ignore Jason's strange passwords and concentrated instead on the first part of the letter. The little bluenette was going to have to stay alone for four long days with Plagg as her only company. The Kwami cat who spent his life complaining that he was bored, that he was going to starve -when he ate alone for ten-, that he wanted to leave this place and that he was running out of cheese. Wonderful.

She sighed and opened the envelope. A hundred bills fell out... OH MY GOD! What was all that money?! Was Jason rich? That would explain why he was able to spend so much without counting... She shook her head from side to side, hoping to clear her mind.

The new holder of the black cat's ring sighed. The more time passes, the more the feeling of just being a profiteer becomes ingrained in her. The former schoolgirl stood up and looked around. Her savior was a nice person, but his organization was disastrous. There really were clothes everywhere, pizza boxes piled up in the corner. Beers and other drinks prohibited to minors were placed here and there.

An idea crossed her mind.

Of course!

To thank the young man for taking her in, she could take care of the house! Then cook too... The teenager was far from being difficult but eating fast food every day was not only bad for her health, but it was also tiring in the long run.

That's how she started her search on the internet. She had to find the local markets, the way to get there, the opening hours... She also had to make an inventory of what was in the house in order to buy only the bare necessities. Once her shopping list was ready, the young girl left to get dressed. She had to disguise herself... Her face wasn't pretty, always swollen. Plus, she had this constant fear of being recognized by someone. She rummaged through Jason's things and soon found her happiness.

Marinette wore a black vest three times too big for her with a hood. Underneath was a red T-shirt with " _No mo' rules_ " written on it - in her opinion Jason had dubious taste -. She also put on boy's jeans pants, always too big for her, which she fastened with a belt. To hide her mouth and part of her cheeks, the little girl put on a mask. Then she put on sunglasses to hide her bluish eye. Taking a deep breath, Marinette went out with Plagg comfortably settled in her hood.

She walked about ten minutes before she found the grocery store, she was looking for. The young girl then bought household products to wash the floor and do the laundry, a broom, a dustpan. She also took some cloths, sponges, towels... TOO MANY things were needed in this apartment!

She found it difficult to bring everything back on her own, but still managed to get by. What made her uncomfortable was the people around her... The former Ladybug had this constant feeling of being spied on, or when everyone was looking at her sideways, but above all she was afraid of being recognized by someone... She paid quickly and returned to the apartment as soon as possible. As soon as the door was closed, she collapsed in front of it. She began to cry. Her breathing became more and more difficult, her eyes were fogged with tears.

Plagg stood in front of her and slapped her to get her attention. Marinette looked at him in shock.

"Okay mini-bug, follow my lead."

The Kwami began to take a deep breath and then exhale several times in a row.

Marinette imitated him mechanically. After a moment, which seemed like an eternity for the cat, her breath returned to a normal rhythm. It took a good thirty minutes more to get up. She was still shaking. However, it was unacceptable to let this incident prevent her from doing what she had planned to do: clean up the apartment.

So, despite her trembling, the former ladybug began to work. While she was cleaning, she came across some strange things... to say the least.

She noticed that some of Jason's clothes were stained with blood... He had very detailed maps of the entire city, including the buildings surrounding them. She took the time to look at them one by one. Then she found two weapons under the sofa bed, which fell out when she tried to move it to dust the underside.

Maybe Jason was a policeman?

But he had told her that policemen were not appreciated at all in the neighborhood... So... He didn't say anything to protect himself?

Yeah, that would be the most logical explanation. She ignored Plagg's warnings, telling her that it was proof that her "savior" was dangerous.

"Plagg, if he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it long ago...”

The Kwami didn't answer her, he didn't say anything to her either.

It took her two whole days to put everything back in the right place. The result was well worth it, everything was spotless. The only problem was that she had to restock, as Plagg had swallowed all the food he could find... Supposedly because he was bored.

Marinette had to go out again...

Surprisingly, this time she didn't have a panic attack. Sure, she still had that lump in her stomach, her knotted throat and cold sweats whenever she met someone, but... nothing unmanageable. In the sense that breathing sessions with Plagg alone would be enough to calm her down.

Unfortunately, when she wanted to cook a surprise meal for Jason, she realized that in her rush to get home she had forgotten some important things: the kitchen utensils... Jason's cooking utensils - a pot, a frying pan and a wooden spoon - were far from being enough... Especially since she wanted to make macaroons.

A glance out the window confirmed to her that it was already dark... She had read several times on the Internet that it was a bad idea to go out alone at night in Gotham. Marinette wanted to surprise Jason. She absolutely wanted to please him, to thank him for taking such good care of her without expecting anything in return.

She changed, put on her vest and jeans. She didn't put on the sunglasses or the mask, however, which could be suspicious in the middle of the night. Her first obstacle was to find the grocery store near the apartment, closed. Marinette then had to walk for about 20 minutes to a supermarket to do her shopping. She took all the utensils she needed and some seasonings that she had forgotten to buy on her first outing.

Of course, it couldn't be that simple. It was really late when she came back from the supermarket. She could feel Plagg wiggling near her ear, and for good reason, the little eurasian girl realized she was being followed. She tried to outrun her pursuer by using the small alleys, but it was a serious mistake. Soon she found herself surrounded by three thugs. The one following her was behind her, while the other two were blocking her way.

“Come on buddy, give us all your cash and we'll leave you alone.”

Marinette was nervous, she couldn't understand what the guy had just said to her, but from the look in his eyes she understood that she wouldn't like it.

"<He's telling you to give him your money Bug>"

Marinette whispered as softly as possible.

"<Do you understand what they're saying?>"

"<The Kwamis speak every language on earth.>"

Before Marinette had time to answer, she was pushed by the guy behind her, which made her stagger a little forward. The two idiots in front of her giggled. This situation was painfully familiar to the young eurasian girl. She felt like she was back at school, with her classmates persecuting her.

“Hey kid, don't try to fool us! We've been watching you for a while now, we know you have money!”

Her heart was pounding, she was having trouble breathing.

Nope... no, no, no, no!

It wasn't time to panic.

She had to think and find a way to get away with her groceries and fast! The trouble was that her body stubbornly refused to obey her. She was completely petrified on the spot. When the two men in front of her decided to get closer, her only reaction was to close her eyes.

Then she heard one scream, then two.


	4. Heroes and fugitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette meets the vigilantes of Gotham. Everything will not go as planned ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost entirely from Marinette's point of view. She does not understand English. So, she speaks in French. When you see "<...>" in a dialogue, it means that the characters speak English.

Marinette decided to reopen her eyes. She was on her knees on the floor, holding her bags firmly against her. Two men were fighting with the guys who wanted to steal her. Were they... cosplayed? At least they seemed to be in disguise. A voice was heard near her ear.

"Marinette! Finally, you come to your senses! What are you waiting for? We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"

"P-Plagg? What's going..."

"When you were pushed you fell on the floor, then you closed your eyes... Anyway, this is not the time, get up and run while the two clowns take care of these freaks."

Marinette got up quickly and looked at the scene again. She had seen that three people... Why were there at least 15 guys on the ground? As if he could read her mind, the Kwami made himself heard again.

"Some other guys came in for backup while you were praying to the sky, you snotty! What language do you want me to say it to you? RUN!"

As she was finally about to run away from that dark alley, she hit something. She looked up and saw a man. At that very moment, Marinette should have seen a tall man dressed in a black suit, an emblem resembling a blue bird on his chest with a black domino mask on his face hiding his eyes. A slight smile was on his lips.

"<Are you All Right?>"

But... that's not what she's going through. For the girl it was the realization of the nightmares she had over and over again every night... The fear of having to go back to Paris.

So, the only logical action that crossed her mind at that precise moment was a kick between the legs. Completely out of surprise, the man dropped an "OUCH". The young lady took advantage of the moment to run as fast as she could. She still had time to hear a "What the hell?" from the man in the black and blue suit.

-XxxX-

Marinette rushed into the first building she saw through an open window. Once inside, the young lady didn't lose her rest and started running. When she opened a door, she found a spiral staircase leading to the upper floors. The four-storey building was obviously abandoned. The place was unhealthy, there was a horrible smell of urine and dust. Tags were a perfect complement to the decoration of the place. She hid on the third floor behind a couch in a corridor next to the stairwell. A long red carpet, greyish from the dust, was unfolded all along the corridor.

The bluenette was terrified, she had just attacked one of Gotham's vigilantes! Worse, they had seen her face! If they found her, they would surely want to ask her for explanations that she couldn't give, so they would probably want to go to her house and Jason would be in trouble... Oh, my God, what if they recognized her? She'd have to go back to Paris and Hawkmoth would have no trouble reaching her and, and, and... Her parents... they'd be in danger and...

She couldn't breathe. Her heart was beating so fast and loud that the whole neighborhood had to hear it.

"Oye mini-bug breathes! Hey! I said, breathe! MARINETTE!"

"P-Plagg? We can't let them find us! I can't go back to Paris; I don't want Jason to get in trouble... I ... I..."

"Ok Mari-bug do as I do."

Plagg began to suck in air excessively and then exhale slowly.

Marinette imitated him and little by little, her trembling stopped, her heart returned to a normal rhythm. As she finally began to calm down, footsteps began to reason. She froze on the spot.

The kwami of destruction decided to take a look at the entrance of the building. He noticed that they were two guys in disguise. The taller one, who was also probably older, had a tight black suit with a symbol on his chest... Hmm... A sort of blue "V" shape. The second smaller one wore a black and red suit; a black cape covered his head. Plagg could feel a strange magic emanating from the young man.

A case of consciousness began to land on him, what if he "cataclysm" them? No one would ever know, and Tikki's protégée would be saved. On the other hand, the mini-bug would ask him questions. He squinted for a moment as he watched the men inspect the room, then decided to join the girl who was now his protégée.

When he came back, she was mumbling something in her non-existent beard.

"Problem, mini-bug?"

"Plagg! I think I know what to do, this building we're in, I'm sure I saw it on one of the maps I put up at Jason's place!"

"Mmm... and?"

The cat of destruction looked at her, as if a second head had just grown on her. Having paid absolutely no attention to what she was doing in the apartment, he had no idea, of the allegations of the young lady in front of him.

"If I'm not mistaken. When you go down the cellar, there's a trap door hidden behind a piece of furniture. This hatch leads directly to the building right next to Jason's... We need to get down to the basement..."

"Can't I just use my cataclysm on the building?"

"What?! NO! They could die!"

"They're heroes, aren't they? They'll survive."

"Just because they're heroes doesn't mean they can't die, Plagg!"

"Then turn around and jump out the window."

"And risk someone seeing us? Worse that they follow us? No way!"

"Have you always been so dramatic?!"

"WHAT?! What do y..."

Plagg suddenly put his two paws over her mouth to tell her to shut up. As she was about to protest, voices interrupted her impulse.

"<Anybody's here?>"

"<-tt- No one would ever answer that question...>"

"<Robin please, you saw the wounds on that guy. I just want to see if he's okay.>"

"<I didn't know you were a masochist, Grayson. Moreover, it was a girl.>"

"<What?>"

"<It was a girl, you moron. The blow she gave you in addition to castrating you also made you blind?>"

Marinette held her breath as the two guys walked right past her hiding place. They walked to the end of the hallway and began to open each room and inspect them one by one. Marinette saw an opportunity to escape. She retrieved her two bags of groceries, while the two heroes were each in a room, she discreetly walked to the door leading to the stairwell. Of course, this was without counting on her legendary clumsiness. She took her foot on the carpet. Losing her balance, she staggered forward and hit her head against the door frame. Marinette was stunned but could still hear the Kwami's voice very clearly in the pocket of her vest.

"Are you serious?"

Of course, the noise immediately drew the heroes into the corridor. They looked at her for a moment before starting to move slowly towards her. She didn't wait for the rest of them to run away, slamming the door behind her. The older man tried to stop her, but the door closed first.

"<Hey, miss! Wait! We don't want to hurt you!>"

Marinette ran as fast as she could but was stopped by a figure that landed right in front of her. It was the one she had earlier identified as Robin. At the time, she couldn't help thinking that her landing was stylish. Now that she saw him up close, she could feel a strange aura escaping from him. An aura that was both dark and sad at the same time. She could also see his suit very well. In spite of the fabric, it was quite easy to guess that he had a well-sculpted body. She felt her cheeks warming up, - fortunately she had her hood over her head, it wasn't the time to fantasize about one of Gotham's heroes-.

Damn it, she was trapped!

She didn't have to turn around to know that the second hero wasn't far behind. The former ladybug approached the wall and cowered on top of herself, her bags clutching at her.

The bluenette suddenly felt like crying. She tightened her grip on her shopping bags. Fear began to make her shake.

She felt trapped.

That was it.

It was over.

They were going to take her to some police station or even a hospital... She was going to have to go back to Paris, served on a platter at Hawk Moth. This psychopath would take Plagg and all the Kwamis from her, would make, she didn't know what wish, and the world would fall into chaos, all because she was too weak.

"<No need to cry, we're not going to hurt you. We just want to make sure... you're...okay?>"

Marinette couldn't understand what they were talking about. What she hadn't seen was that Robin had put herself on her level. That's when she realized that her hood had fallen off, exposing her very swollen temple, which deformed part of her face, not to mention the bluish eye - courtesy of the guy who had punched her - and her enormous ear bandage.

Her face was wet, when did she start crying?

Her hands wrapped around the bag showed the bandages on her wrists and stretched out along her arm.

The second hero arrived. Marinette immediately turned her attention to him. She recognized him as Nightwing. In the panic earlier she had been unable to identify him. He had an amused smile on his face.

"<Damn, you run so fast!>"

When he saw her, the hero immediately lost his smile. He made no attempt to suppress his surprise or worry.

"<Oh shit! What happened to you?>"

"<Who did this to you?>"

The eurasian girl turned her head back to Robin. He was angry.

"<Who the hell did this to you?!>"

"I...I..."

**BAM !**

This sudden noise shocked our protagonist. The two men present were immediately alerted. Suddenly, a mattress fell from the top of the stairs and landed at the foot of the stairs with a thud. A voice that she knew very well was heard.

"JUMP!"

The young girl didn't ask for much. Surprising her interlocutors, she concentrated all her strength on her thighs and jumped forward, using the wall as a support. Nightwing tried to catch her but received a jar on his head. Robin also had started a movement to catch her, but at that moment, in a surrealist movement, Marinette threw a bottle of pepper in his face as she fell.

"I'm sorry and thank you." was the last thing he heard as he rubbed his eyes.

The former Ladybug lands on the dusty old mattress. She got up immediately and started running to the basement. Any questions that came to her mind could be asked later. She still had the image of the building plan in her head. The staircase leading to the basement was outside the building, more precisely next to it.

There was a small staircase leading to a door. She tried to open it, but it was closed. She started trying to break it down when a "click" signaled that the door had just opened. When she opened it, she came face to face with Plagg.

"I want three boxes of Camembert morning, noon and night from Monday to Friday and double that on weekends for at least the next three years."

Marinette looked at him, with exorbitant eyes before laughing.

"I promise!"

"Very well, now go get the damn trap door, I've got one last thing to do..."

The girl decided to trust the Kwami and rushed to the cellar. She had to break down the door of each cellar with her foot when they were closed. Finally, what she was looking for was in the last cellar. This one had only one piece of furniture inside. She managed to move it with some difficulty. The trap door was right there. She let out a sigh of relief. At that very moment, she heard crackling noises and a huge "BOOM". The ceiling was beginning to crumble.

_Oh God, he really did it! Plagg has cataclysm the building!_

Panicking at the thought of being buried, Marinette fired frantically at the hatch door. The hatch would not open, probably rusty with time. After an effort that seemed superhuman to her, the damned hatch opened. It was a hole just big enough for her to pass through with iron bars inlaid on one of the walls, probably to be used as a staircase. It was dark, she had nothing on her to make light, but... whatever! She threw her two bags inside and ventured in, closing the trap door above her head.

She could see absolutely nothing and was moving forward little by little, groping and groping. Fear was tying her stomach, but she decided to ignore this constant feeling of anxiety. After a moment, which seemed endless, her foot tapped on something hard. She had arrived downstairs.

She tried to walk along the wall, groping it to see if there was something there. The bluenette finally felt that she was touching something. This thing on the wall seemed to be rectangular in shape and there was something in the middle. She tried to press down on it. A small "click" was heard and suddenly the place lit up, temporarily blinding her.

When Marinette opened her eyes again, she was in a kind of corridor that was lit by lights embedded in the ceiling. To her left there was a door, then to her right the tunnel.

"Wow...so there really was a passage!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD! PLAGG!"

The Kwami just laughed.

Marinette tried to open the door, but it was locked, leaving her no choice but to go to the right. She picked up her various purchases and put them back in her bags. Luckily, since they were kitchen utensils, everything was intact. She started walking down the corridor. Plagg landed on her head.

For long minutes she walked until she came to a second door. This one was also closed, but there was no lock that could withstand the Kwami of destruction. She managed to get out and saw that it was another cellar. Finally, as she managed to get out without too much effort, her greatest relief was to see that she had not made a mistake. The building where she had been staying for almost a month was indeed there.

She entered it without asking for the rest. As soon as she arrived in the apartment, she locked the door and let herself slide along it. She didn't move for a while, wondering if one of the heroes had followed her... If they were at least still alive after Plagg destroyed the building.

The Kwami looked at her silently. They looked at each other in the whites of their eyes for a long time - green eyes in the case of Plagg-.

"Plagg..."

"What?"

"I threw pepper on a hero..."

"Yep, you castrated one too, if I remember correctly..."

"OH, MY GOD! I CASTRATED A HERO!"

Plagg began to laugh, while Marinette rolled on the floor with her hands covering her red face with shame. She finally got up. No one was ever to learn what had happened.

**No one.**

She hadn't done anything wrong... She needed to protect her identity at all costs. She had done nothing wrong.

**Nothing.**

She decided to ignore the recent events, and to focus on her surprise for Jason.

**The next night**

His first surprise when he arrived at the foot of his building was to see that the light was on - Marinette never turned it on-. With his instincts on alert, he slowly climbed the stairs leading to the top floor of the building where he was staying. His gun loaded; he unlocked the door.

His second surprise of the evening was that his salon was spotless. There was nothing left to hang around. On the coffee table next to the television was a tray with several small sandwiches. There was also a jar filled with an orange liquid... Suddenly, the kitchen door flapped open, immediately attracting his attention. To his astonishment, Marinette came out, with a tray filled with what he recognized as macaroons. And it smelled good, to say the least. She was wearing what he identified as one of his shirts. It was so big on her, that the girl had the good idea to tie a belt around her waist to make a dress out of it. She had tied her hair in a bun.

Seeing that she hadn't noticed his presence yet, he took advantage of the opportunity to discreetly hide his weapon in one of the drawers of the hall cabinet. He would hide it better later.

He then walked towards the living room door, cracking the parquet floor. The effect was immediate, Marinette turned towards him and screamed when she saw him. In the process, she threw the tray into the air, making all the macaroons fly away.

Then everything happened very quickly, but Jason could swear he saw everything in slow motion.

Her face deformed into a grimace and she tried to catch up with the set. It bounced off her hand and crashed to the ground. All the macaroons were on the ground except one that landed on her head. She froze in place, balancing on one leg. The other was raised backwards while she was stretched forward, her arms still straight ahead. Her head was turned towards him with exorbitant eyes, a macaroon proudly enthroned on her head.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Time seemed to stand still.

Then finally, Jason laughed out loud. He had to lean against the wall so he wouldn't fall down. He held his stomach, laughing so hard it hurt.

"Oh my God! Ahhahahahaha... you're just... it's... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

His laughter was only intensified when she bowed to apologize and the only surviving macaroon from the massacre joined its companions already on the ground. Poor Marinette, she was red with shame, not knowing where to stand.

The image of the cute little hamster became even more entrenched in his mind.

It took him a good ten minutes to recover from his emotions. He even had to wipe away a tear that had been shed from his wild laughter.

"Wow... Phew... I don't know when the last time was, I laughed like that... But seriously, kiddo, what were you trying to accomplish?"

Marinette - who had managed to discover a new shade of red - answered him in a small voice playing with her fingers. Her feet seemed to fascinate her so much, that she stared at them.

"I wanted to surprise you... To thank you... you know... for letting me stay here, and uh... well.... To be nice and... for taking care of me when you didn't have to... and finally... you... you... you understand... I mean, you know..."

She finally dared to look up at him.

Jason would never have believed that the eyes of the Puss in Boots of Shrek could exist in real life. Her cheeks were always rosy, she stared at him with that childish look, that was about to be scolded.

It was so cute.

He put his hand through his silky hair to scratch his head, he had to admit it to himself.

**It made him happy.**

He really enjoyed it.

A sincere smile stretched across his lips.

"I'll help you pick up, who knows, maybe one or two will have survived the fall."

She didn't answer but smiled back at him.

As they picked up together what were once macaroons, he whispered a small "thank you". No doubt he hadn't said it low enough, because he swore, he heard her answer "you're welcome".


	5. Sound the bugle!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Marinette are getting closer. Unfortunately, they don't have the privilege of happiness...

**Jason was not meant to be a babysitter. On the other hand, he was apparently made to be a big brother.**

"Mari, wouldn't you have seen my black t-shirt? The one with Jagged Stone on it."

"I already put it in your suitcase, Jay. Rather, tidy up your _gear_ , I'll take care of the clothes."

"Yes mom !"

Jason saw a pillow fly in his direction. He dodged it without any difficulty and left to put away his arsenal almost by trotting. A smile appeared on his face.

Today was a great day!

He was busy tidying up the rest of his things. Everything seemed perfect ... If only he could get his hands on his red helmet! He searched absolutely throughout the apartment. As he was about to call Marinette for the umpteenth time, a voice called out to him.

"Is that what you're looking for?"

Mari's mascot looked at him with an amused look, while keeping Jason's helmet balanced on his head.

"Oh ... It's very impressive ... Give me that, mini cockroach, I have no time to waste with you."

" It’s asked so kindly! "

The beast replied with just as much sarcasm. Just as he had anticipated, the black plague threw his precious helmet on the ground and left with a sneer to join his mistress. Jason took a deep breath and picked it up. Fortunately, this good old helmet had seen others. As a result, there were no scratches. He returned to the living room to retrieve his bag and found that it was completely turned over.

_I'm going to kill this flying woodlouse!_

It was the only shadow on the board. The past few months had been particularly restful for him. Strangely, he got used to having the little girl by his side. Her presence had a little something calming. If someone had once told the young adult that he would accept to take a disciple, he would have laughed in the face of this rascal. However, life sometimes had strange surprises. Now he is packing his bags to go around the world with his new partner. A young girl whom he began to consider more and more as a little sister to protect.

_If only the cockroach that serves her as a cat could disintegrate._

With a last sigh, he put his things away again.

**FOUR MONTHS EARLY.**

A man was lurking in the shadows discreetly watching police officers helping rescue workers clear away the remains of buildings

Jason was worried.

In fact, he hadn't been talking to anyone for several months, avoiding contact. If he had returned to Gotham, it was out of pure nostalgia. The sapphire-eyed brunette had never imagined for a second to find himself with a little girl on his arms. A girl who, by the way, hadn't asked him for a single thing… However, he could not regret this choice. 

The most ironic part of the story was that he met her on Crime Alley. The very place where several years earlier, the great Dark Knight of Gotham had met the man who would become the second Robin.

The fateful encounter that sealed his fate. 

Besides... The fact that this little girl was dark hair with blue eyes was a sign that he looked more like his mentor than he wanted to believe.

_Shit... Now I'm picking up dark-haired, blue-eyed kids off the street, too... If I start adopting other kids, please kill me!_

This girl saved him from his loneliness without even knowing it.

Her clumsiness, her kindness, her shyness constantly reminded him that yes, outside the walls of his home there were not only psychopathic clowns. It wasn't just guys dressed up as bats or drug dealers.

Jason was still struggling to admit it, but he had become attached to this little girl.

Was that how Bruce Wayne felt when he chose a Robin?

So, yes, Jason Todd was worried. The young adult was only gone a few days. When he came back, half the neighborhood was gone. Sure, it was supposed to be an abandoned area where crime, misery and poverty flourished. But still, the East End was almost wiped off the map! It was a fucking joke!

He abandoned the scene that was being played before his eyes, to return to the safehouse he shared with Marinette. The night before, he had taken advantage of the sunset to move his arsenal elsewhere. The hardest thing for him now was to explain to his little roommate the reasons for their hasty departure.

For the moment, the little French girl was completely unaware that her guardian had a double life. He wanted it to remain a secret. After all, if there was one thing the dark-haired man had learned over time, it was that loving Jason Todd didn't mean loving Red Hood and vice versa.

When he got to his destination, he saw that croissants were waiting for him on the table. The coffee was ready, the milk reheated, the jam out. Marinette was waiting for him with a big smile.

"Hello Jason! I hope you're hungry, the croissants just come out of the oven!"

Damn it.

Everything would be so much easier if this little one was boring and grumpy. He would have just left her in a corner near a center for troubled teens, then basta. 

But no ! 

The kid had to be adorable, cute, peaceful and kind! An absolutely incompatible mixture with _the terrible_ Jason Todd, the black sheep of the Bat-family. He would not have been in this place for a long time. In reality, he wouldn't even be in Gotham anymore.

"Jason? Are you okay?"

She moved closer to him. Her face was still swollen, but was finally starting to regain a more normal shade. Her blue eyes reflected concern.

"Mmm, I'm fine. Tell me, did you hear anything weird while I was gone?"

She jumped slightly.

"Weird, what do you mean by weird?"

"There was a big earthquake the other night, almost the whole neighborhood was destroyed."

"A-Ah well ... I-I didn't hear anything."

"Hm. "

The former Robin couldn't help but notice the disturbance of his interlocutor. On the one hand, he had the feeling that she didn't tell him everything. On the other, the little one was so nervous and shy, that it might just be the result of her lack of self-confidence.

"So... I was thinking we should get out of here, move to a quieter place, you know?"

"You want to ... move?"

"Yeah."

"With me ?"

"Yes ? "

Her face clearly had an expression of surprise.

"What's that face?"

"I-it's just... I mean... I didn't think that you... I mean, it's not that you can't, right! I'm very, very, very happy to stay with you, but, I mean, it's-"

"Marinette, if you have something to say, just say it. There's no point in beating around the bush. You're free to express yourself, kiddo."

For a moment, she looked at him without saying a word. Jason easily understood that she was searching for her words.

"I didn't think that ... You want to keep me. I mean, nothing forces you to host me like you do. I thought you ... I don't know ... That you'd turn me into the police or something."

Okay.

The dark-haired man understood the problem better: this girl was afraid of being abandoned. It was a feeling he knew all too well. Jason caught himself putting his hand on her head. He spoke to her in a kindly voice that he didn't even know he had.

"Look, I didn't save you to hand you over to the dogs that serve as cops in this city. But if I have to be honest, I'm no better than them. I don't know what kind of hell you've been through, and frankly I don't give a shit. The truth is, I live in a world you probably won't like. You don't have to stay with me or follow me. But I can promise you one thing: if you stay, I won't let you down."

Frail arms came around his waist. Her head came to rest on his chest. It was that she had strength, the little brat!

"I want to stay with you Jason." 

For better or for worse, the black sheep of the bat-family had just adopted a kid.

-XxxX-

Jason took the safest path for him: the sewers.

It was not a place to take a kid. He was fully aware of this. However, with recent events, it was a miracle that the bat and his guard dogs hadn't turned up yet.

It won't be long now.

The surface was riddled with cops. Considering the carnage up there, they must have been pretty damn busy.

The little girl was following him wisely. 

In the end, the only thing she had put in her backpack was some clothes and the famous bag containing her jewellery. Her face was puffy, her hair tied up in two little pigtails... A vision that stained, in the middle of the disgusting scenery in which they were. If you disregarded the stench and the apparent pipes, you'd think it was a child going to school.

After a few hours of walking, they finally arrived at their destination. The end of the conduit. Where the sewage ends its course: the river. The bars protecting this outlet were relatively wide. So they had no trouble getting through. Then they walked along the edge of the tributary, until they came close to a kind of small grove. Just behind these trees was a red sports car.

"And there you are, Madame's carriage is ready to go!" 

The brunette approached the vehicle and examined it carefully.

"This is the first time I see this kind of car ... It is beautiful, I really like the color. "

The girl said her words softly as she passed her hand over the structure of the car before turning to him and smiling.

"Where are we going ?"

"I thought Los Angeles to start, or maybe New York ... Any suggestions?"

"New York’s good."

"Any particular reason?"

"I almost lived there once ... But at the time I had other obligations and it never could be done. I always wanted to know what this city looked like." 

As usual, she played with her fingers while talking. He could see nervousness emanating from every pore of her skin. He opened the driver's side door of the car and invited her to do the same. Marinette immediately imitated him banging her head against the door as she drove by.

The girl's clumsiness really fascinated the young adult.

"New York it is then, miss."

She smiled slightly, putting her bag on her lap.

The car drove off. They left Gotham without looking back.

-XxxX-

Several weeks passed quickly. New York was really just the beginning of a long journey. They began by touring New Jersey before heading for California. Jason took her wherever he knew he had a safehouse. Their understanding was perfect, and a strong bond was formed between the two of them.

"Jay ... Seriously? We're in Los Angeles and the only thing you want to eat is a burger ?!"

"Say the miss who wants to eat burritos, something you can easily find like ... In any fast food?"

" But the burritos from here are the best!"

"The Ramens Burger here are legendary, Mari! "

They argued for a long time before finally deciding the fate of their meal at shifumi. Jason won, of course, as he always did when they played the game. Marinette sulked for the rest of the afternoon.

Jason couldn't be happier.

And Red Hood in this story?

It was simple. The _bad guy_ with the red helmet was on _vacation_.

Since he had taken in the little French girl, he had limited his "work" to the bare minimum. Now that he had left Gotham, he had ceased all activity. The main reason was that he couldn't leave Mari alone - and couldn't take her with him-. The last time he had done so, an entire neighborhood had almost disappeared. 

Which meant his little protégée **almost died**.

The second reason was that the girl was still fragile. He wanted to keep her company. Trying to give her a little joy in life, she really needed it. And so did he, at the same time.

**But all of these reasons were just excuses.**

The reality was that the dark-haired man had a bad feeling.

Something in his gut was telling him something was wrong. Lately he's been much **too** quiet. His life had always been a daily struggle, especially after he came back from the dead. No matter how much time he spent with his new "friend", he couldn't help but be on the lookout. A feeling of anxiety seemed to be constantly pressing on his stomach.

As he looked at the little brunette, who was busy choosing a flavor of ice cream, a thought crossed his mind.

_I'm getting paranoid?_

-XxxX-

Jason was not paranoid.

He was sure, someone was following them. The former Robin very regularly felt chills running through his whole body. If there was one thing the old man had taught him, it was to follow his gut. 

And his instinct was screaming at him that he was in danger.

It was now several times that he perceived a stealthy shadow regularly passing close to them. When they returned from their excursion, Jason noticed that some of the objects were no longer in the same place.

How many times now had he checked the apartment to see if there was a hidden camera or microphone somewhere? Or how many sleepless nights had he spent awake, for fear of being caught in his sleep?

His concern was only growing, especially since he was no longer alone.

**Someone was counting on him.**

The last thing he wanted was for her to find out! Now that Marinette was smiling, that she finally seemed to open up to the world...

Jason made a decision, it couldn't go on any longer.

This is why, after a good five weeks without making the slightest wave, Red Hood was out. He waited for twilight, gave Marinette some excuse and left.

-XxxX-

Marinette was nervous.

Lately, Plagg has been hellish! 

He'd decided he didn't like Jason and made that clear.

Was she hanging out with Jason? Hop, Plagg was going for a ride on purpose, when he knew perfectly well that NO ONE should see him!

What if she left him alone in the apartment? Hop, the apartment will mysteriously end up untidy!

Jason was out. Now was the time to speak to the cheese eater!

He was watching television. Jason had managed to get a subscription that allowed him to watch French programs.

"Plagg! Look, we really have to talk-"

"NO! Stay away!"

"W-What? Plagg? What's up?"

The floating cat looked at her nervously. Then turned to the television screen, which was on. He looked at her again with exorbitant eyes.

"Plagg? Are you looking at the news? Something happened ... Thing ... Oh my God! "

She put her hand to her mouth. Her face decomposed in horror. In front of her, were scenes of a hostage-taking that had taken place a few days earlier in Paris.

"Dad... mom ?"

"Marinette ... Turn off the TV, it's getting late ... "

The Kwami was completely ignored. On the contrary, Marinette takes hold of the remote control that the floating cat was trying to hide to increase the volume.

"We're live again, to talk about the recent events that took place in France a week ago. What the whole world is now calling The Great Tragedy. As you must all know by now, Paris has suffered several terrorist attacks by a group calling themself Hawk Moth. Be careful, the images that will follow may offend the young public.”

It was an amateur footage.

At the top of the Eiffel Tower, there were people tied by a cable hanging over the void. Specifically two people. A tall, rather strong man with a mustache. He was dressed in a sky blue shirt and brown pants. The other person was an Asian woman. Her hair was bluish black, she was dressed in a white short-sleeved tangzhuang with a floral pattern.

Someone, presumably an Akumatized, was standing on top of the Eiffel Tower. You could hear her voice very clearly from the video.

"Ladybug, give me your miraculous and that of Cat Noir, otherwise these two people will go and say hello to the tar! You have ten minutes not one more!"

Of course ... **No one came**.

The Akumatized cut the rope. The video was cut off. Unfortunately, all the spectators could easily understand how this sinister story ended.

Yes, absolutely everyone could understand.

Even the daughter of the two victims in question.

Marinette felt her legs falter. Tears flowed in abundance from her eyes as she let out a cry of agony.

Plagg had absolutely no idea what to do or what to say. 

It had to be said that he was just as shocked as his young protégé. 

He never thought this guy would go so far to retrieve the miraculous! The bastard had all the same executed people in public places! 

Damn, he felt like he was back in the medieval era!

He looked helplessly on the one who was now the guardian of the miraculous, screaming, crying, screaming in pain on the ground.

_Oh Tikki ... what should I do?_

How long did the girl stay like that? The Kwami had no idea. He just stood on her head and rubbed his cheek against her hair. No matter what he said or did, nothing could take away the pain of his young protege.

It was a voice that again drew his attention to the television screen. A sweet voice of a pestilence he knew only too well.

"Here we are with a witness. I'm sure you know her. She's Miss Rossi. The protégé of the famous Gabriel Agreste. How well did you know the victims?"

"Well, they were a couple of bakers. They worked near my college. They were also the parents of one of my classmates *snif*, that's so awful. *snif*"

The harpy's voice caught Marinette's attention. Between two sobs, she straightened up to get a better view of the screen. The more the interview progressed, the more the Kwami felt like puking.

"[...] And so you say that the Dupain-Cheng couple, would have voluntarily allowed themselves to be captured?"

"I... I don't know. Just that since the disappearance of their daughter, I think that unfortunately they were ready to do anything to draw attention to them. You know... Marinette was a bit of a... Let's just say she... wasn't very nice... There were a lot of rumors about her going around the college. And... *snif*... that doesn't excuse the fact that what happened was awful, they didn't deserve *snif*... [...]"

Plagg felt his jaw drop. He turned slowly towards the eurasian girl.

The expression on her face made him livid.

Only one thing crossed his mind at that moment.

**_Shit._ **


	6. Revenge?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anger can sometimes lead to very sad results.

The bluenette's anger was devastating, all the furniture in the living room was destroyed. The curtains were pulled and torn, the vase on the table was broken, the dining table was overturned, the coffee table was thrown out of the window, breaking it in the process. When there was nothing left to destroy, she fell to the ground and screamed.

Plagg tried to calm her down but it was in vain. The poor cat was completely helpless, faced with the tantrum of his new protégé. Quickly realizing that there was nothing he could do about it; he took refuge in the kitchen, opened the fridge and took out a tin of camembert.

Since there was nothing, he could do about it, he might as well use his time efficiently: he began to eat.

Marinette got up.

Her lock of hair was hiding part of her face.

The teenage girl walked calmly - perhaps too calmly - to the room she shared with Jason. When she reached her destination, she pushed the wardrobe. The wall was made of brick. Putting her hand on it, she took off a brick to reveal the current hiding place of the miraculous. The jewels had taken their place in a brand-new jewelry box that the young lady had made with her own hands.

The box was now burgundy red with black flames on the sides. On the lid there was a black circle barely one centimeter long. The only way to open this jewelry box was to put your finger on the black circle in the center of the lid. If the box recognized the imprint, it would open, otherwise it remained closed.

The eurasian girl placed her index finger on the black circle, the box opened immediately. She put her hand inside and removed a particular miraculous: a pair of glasses. The box was again closed and then hidden inside the hole left by one of the bricks. Finally, the cupboard was put back in place.

She first placed the glasses on her bed. Then looked for the backpack Jason had given her earlier in the week.

Once the bag was in her possession, she began to rummage through her caretaker's things. Marinette took several items: ropes, a taser, handcuffs, a knife, and one of the firearms Jason hid under the couch. To be honest, her savior was particularly fond of weapons.

She put her equipment in her bag.

The bag was placed in front of the front door. The girl then walked to her closet. She began to carefully choose her outfit, which consisted of a wide black hoodie and trousers of the same color. She also took a pair of sneakers that she had bought while she was with Jason. With her clothes in hand, she went to change. When she returned, Plagg was in the room. He was floating above the pair of glasses that had been on the bed earlier. The god of destruction then turned towards her.

Their eyes crossed.

The Kwami chose to remain silent and left to settle down in the backpack in front of the bedroom door. The former ladybug watched him do so, looking completely absent.

Marinette then moved to the bunk bed in the bedroom and sat in the lower mattress, with Jason occupying the bed high up. She placed the glasses on her nose. A yellowish light flashed across the room. A creature measuring a few inches appeared in place of the light. It was a Kwami looking like a pony, with a snow-white lower body, a brown head and green eyes. A white mane completed his fur.

The god of space had just made his entrance.

"Mistress, what can I do for you?"

"Hello Kaalki. First of all, I'd like to tell you that this mission will have to remain confidential, can I trust you?"

"You have my word."

"Perfect. Now listen to me, I want you to open a portal for Paris."

A silence set in for a moment. The floating pony looked at her with round eyes.

"Unless I'm mistaken, mistress... I would have said that you didn't want to go there anymore..."

"I'll be quick. There's something I'd like. No, something I need to do... Open a first gate, then come back for me ten minutes later."

Kaalki looked at the girl intently.

The floating horse was not fooled and understood that something was wrong, he could feel her anger. However, the person in front of him was now the guardian of the miraculous. The Kwamis owed absolute respect and obedience to their holder.

A quick glance at the side allowed him to spot Plagg, his destructive brother.

The latter looked at him and nodded. He nodded slightly in response and shifted his attention to the new little guardian. She was looking at him blankly.

"As you wish, Mistress Marinette, I'll take care of it."

He wasted no time and opened the gate. The brunette got up took her bag and crossed the gate without a look back.

_Plagg my brother, it's all in your paws now._

The gate closed. The Kwami then turned his attention to the clock in the room.

-XxxX-

Marinette crossed the gate and found herself in front of Master Fu's old hideout. Her heart missed a beat as she recognized the place. Everything had been completely cleared. A quick glance showed that there were machines standing still.

In Paris the sun was already set. Putting on her hood, she began her walk heading to the house of a viper.

The young miraculous holder had no trouble getting to her prey. With the help of the Kwami of destruction who hooked the lock, no door could resist her. She entered silently. The apartment was simple, nothing too extravagant. She looked at the first room on her left, it was the living room. A room all the more mundane with a flat screen TV, two sofas. In the extension of the living room, there was the kitchen. It was an American-style kitchen.

In other words, a room of no interest.

She chooses to go straight. After all, the entrance also served a corridor. Walking silently, her gaze turned to a particular door, the one with "Lila" written on it. She went in.

There was a shape under the cover. She gently removed the bedspread and pointed her gun ready to fire. To her complete surprise, it was a large white cat. It was sleeping soundly.

Marinette then sat down on Lila's bed and put her bag next to her. The cat did not move. Plagg chose this moment to get out of the backpack. The young lady looked at him without any emotion.

"I guess you're going to dissuade me by telling me how bad what I'm doing is?"

"Do I look like Wayzz to you? I have no reason to stop you. On the contrary, I think you're making it harder on yourself, kiddo... A simple cataclysm would've solved everything."

"You... Aren't you going to stop me?"

"Nope."

"Why?"

"If I tell you not to do it, will you listen to me?"

"..."

"That's what I thought. And I hate wasting my time on lost causes."

For a moment, neither of them spokes a word. Plagg began to search the backpack and found a box of camembert he had hidden. He began to eat.

Marinette did not know what to make of the Kwami's behavior but decided to ignore it. While he was eating, she took Jason's gun in her hands. To be honest, the teenager had no idea if she was going to be able to use the gun. In theory, all she had to do was pull the trigger, but in practice... Was she really going to have the guts?

Time passed.

The young lady began to observe the room in which she was standing. There were masks on the walls, an Italian flag, a palm tree poster, pictures of Lila, a dartboard with her picture on it and... Wait, what?

The little bluenette jumped up and walked towards the target. She removed the photo. That was her in the picture. How on earth did this bitch get a picture of her? Besides, this little liar used it as a target? His anger only escalated further.

On the desk there were several notebooks. She flisked them one by one. It was pretty fast, the majority were blank. Finally, searching one of the notebooks, the former heroine of Paris found a list that froze her blood:

\- Use a Voice Modulation Program

\- Create false evidence of harassment

\- Public Humiliation

\- Pushing downstairs

\- Stealing belongings from students in the classroom and putting them in Marinette's bag

\- Read her diary in public

\- Ruining the reputation of her parents

\- Stealing stuff during sports class

\- Turn her parents against her

\- Sabotaging her works of plastic art

\- Pushing her to suicide

First, she had ruined her social life. Then she ruined her relationship with her parents. She was giving false interviews to the media, making her look like a bad person. Now, Marinette learned that Lila had made plans to ruin her? How could someone be so bad? How could people be so stupid to believe the lies of this snake? They weren't even realistic for the most part!

She hit the small desk with her fist.

The cat, until then asleep, awoke from a leap. He looked at her intensely. This cat had beautiful blue eyes. He looked at Marinette for a moment and then yawned before going back to sleep.

Without noticing the cat's merry-go-round, the teenager let her anger run free. Tears began to run down her cheeks. She wanted to kill her, tear her apart, pulverize her.

No, at this point Marinette was starting to think that death was too good for the bitch.

"I'm just saying that for your information, but you've got five minutes left, _Little-Bug_."

Before she had time to respond, a noise caught their attention.

**Click.**

The eurasian girl froze.

Plagg dropped his cheese, floated to the door and walked through it. He came back very quickly.

"It's Miss Liar. She's alone. I opened the window to save time."

Marinette moved quickly to the bed and took the gun she had put on it. The bluenette then stood in front of the door and pointed the gun straight ahead, ready to shoot the first person who came through the door. Tears were still streaming down her face as her hands began to shake.

"You know, when I said I wouldn't stop you, I meant it. But I will tell you this: the choice you make today will define who you will become for the rest of your life, Marinette."

Marinette gritted her teeth and closed her eyes for a short while. A taste of iron spread on her tongue. She bit her lip until she bled.

-XxxX-

Lila was in a very good mood. She had just come out of a movie session with her lackeys who served as her classmates. Better yet, the Italian girl hadn't even had to pay for her ticket, the morons took her word for it when she said she had forgotten her wallet.

She was surprised not to be greeted by her mother's stupid cat. Anyway, the lazy bastard must have been sleeping somewhere. As the compulsive liar took off her shoes, a noise startled her. Her mother wouldn't come home until at least 10 pm! She went into the living room and was confused when she noticed that the window was ajar.

Lila closed the window.

As she walked to the kitchen, she heard a second noise, which this time made her shake.

**Bang!**

Completely frightened, she ran out of the apartment in a hurry. Once outside she called the police. To Lila's disappointment, Sabrina's father arrived in the police car. As usual, he was very professional and asked her to explain the situation to him again. The Italian had to explain the reason for her call again, and then together they entered the apartment.

The policeman first entered the living room, then went around all the rooms, ending with her bedroom. Until now, she had clearly understood that he didn't really take her seriously. Everything changed when he entered her room. First, she saw him look surprised, then he frowned and turned to her.

"Miss, go out and stay outside. You were right, someone walked into your apartment. Also call your parents, meanwhile I call for reinforcements."

She complied without arguing.

Soon enough, other police officers arrived on the scene. Her mother also arrived shortly afterwards. Mrs. Rossi checked on her daughter and immediately asked the police officers present for an explanation. Finally, after much negotiation, mother and daughter were able to see what was troubling the police officers so much.

On the floor in the centre of the room was the corpse of a white cat.

On the four walls the words "LIAR" had been written in red, apparently with the cat's blood. There was no furniture left in the room. On the wall, where her photos stood, there was just one target. In the middle of the target was a picture of Lila with a small paper hanging together with a knife.

The note said:

" _Karma's a whore that owes no one anything. Enjoy your Kingdom of Bastards while you can._ ”

Lila became livid.

Not because his pet was dead, far from it. She always hated that stupid animal that belonged to her mother. No, what worried her was that now she was going to have to explain. If at least Marinette were still there, she would have had someone to blame... but that loser had found a way to disappear! - Not that she minded it, on quite the opposite-.

This is a situation she would have a hard time getting out of.

-XxxX-

Marinette came out of the gate with her head down.

The Kwami horse had brought her to the back of an old abandoned building that she recognized as an old dwelling where she had lived with Jason. It must be said that the two of them moved every three days. At first it was stressful, but in the end, she got used to it quite quickly. At least Kaalki had the good idea to bring her back to the same town...

She thanked Kaalki for helping her and removed the miraculous. Then she put it back in her bag.

Plagg came to rub against her cheek.

She started walking aimlessly with her companion on her shoulder. They walked together in silence. Soon a cold liquid touched her cheek. The ground began to get wet. The rain was falling. Her gaze was lost in contemplation of the heavens.

Plagg came to take shelter under her hood.

She had just killed a poor innocent little cat under the influence of anger. Plagg didn't bat an eye and helped her by using his cataclysm on all the furniture in the room. He even had the idea to paint the walls. It seems that he had already planned the scenario in advance.

Strangely, her mind was calm. No shaking, no tears. Instead, a feeling of complete serenity.

** No regrets. **

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had just made a big decision.

"Plagg?"

"What?"

"I'm going to tell Jason the truth."

"Wait WHAT? You're going to repeat that again, because I think I missed the transition!"

"I am serious Plagg, as soon as he comes home we will tell him the truth. I trust him."

"Yeah? Cause you know **how** to get home? I still say it's a really bad idea to talk to this guy... Let's just take the opportunity to run away."

"Uh... No?"

The Kwami of destruction looked her straight into her eyes, his mouth opening and closing at regular intervals. Then finally he sighed resigned.

_How did Tikki handle that kid? She seemed really cute... I'm getting too old for this crap..._

"I have the sad feeling that my opinion is not required, so I'll just salute you low."

Plagg took a dramatic pause by putting a paw on his forehead and raised his head to the sky. He then pretended to take off a non-existent hat to bow to Marinette and put himself back in her hood.

For the first time since the beginning of the week, the brunette laughed heartily.

"Hey sweetheart! Need some company?"

Laughter reasoned in the street.

She turned suddenly to see that a group of young men were walking in her direction.

The girl sighed.

The French-Chinese girl was seriously starting to wonder if she wasn't really a magnet for morons. What was the problem between her and the streets in this country?

_I'm going to start thinking it's a law among the vermin in this town to pick on people like that! Or better yet, that I'm attracting the heavy hitters!_

The little lady didn't wait to start running.

Footsteps reasoned behind her.

But it was that the buggers were following her!

As she ran again and again, she heard cries. Nevertheless, her encounter with Gotham's heroes was still fresh in her mind, so the young girl didn't stop running, no, no!

Her debacle leads her to a dead end.

Before she had time to turn back, a silhouette appeared at the end of the street, standing in the way of her freedom. He was a tall, strong man. He was wearing black stockings, an open brown jacket with a black shirt - or at least what looked like a shirt - underneath with a red skull symbol. The most characteristic was this red helmet that covered his whole face.

**Creepy.**

She backs away until she hits the wall.

_No choice, I'm going to have to fight..._

"Don't attack him. I recognize that aura."

The Kwami had whispered these words near her ear. This had the effect of destabilizing the girl.

The man walked towards her, while carrying his hand towards his helmet to remove it, revealing a familiar face.

"Put your claws away, kid, it's just me."

"JASON!"

The little guardian threw herself on him, putting her weak arms around his waist and burying her head on his chest. Powerful arms surrounded her and held her tight. Marinette felt her whole body relax at once.

A feeling of security took over her whole being.

Now that Jason was here, everything would be all right.

They hugged each other in the rain for a while.


	7. My friend, my brother, my family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explanations, revelations, then tears. Some people just don't have the right to happiness.

**4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days.**

Or 148 days, which was 3552 hours ... Which in turn gave 213 120 minutes.

It was the time that Marinette Dupain-Cheng lived with him.

One hundred and forty-eight days that he was no longer alone.

One hundred and forty-eight days that he tasted French bread almost every morning.

One hundred and forty-eight days that we welcomed him when he came home in the evening.

One hundred and forty-eight days **that he felt happy**.

The last time he felt this way was probably when he was with Roy and Kori... **A long time ago.** Not that his "relationship" with the girl has always been like a fairy tale, far from it. However, her presence alone was enough to calm him down. He liked to think that she was innocent, for not having lived in the same violent world from which he came.

Of course, his feelings were not to be mistaken. He didn't have any romantic feelings for the kid at all. It was more of a brotherly feeling. This girl had become more than a hamster to him. She was like the sister he would have liked to have, like the family he would have liked to keep.

**He wanted to protect her from this world.**

So that night, when he left her in the apartment, the young man just wanted to go to one of his many hideouts that he used as a "bat-cave". If someone was following them or had entered their apartment he would know immediately.

Again, he found nothing.

It was disappointed and worried that he returned home only to find the place completely ransacked. His blood was just a trick. Jason searched the whole apartment for her. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that it hurt.

_No no no ! Anything but that... Please ... Everything except that ..._

The dark-haired took his red helmet and put it on in a hurry. He then took some ammunition and rushed out of the apartment. His mind was completely confused, and no coherent thought could form.

_I have to find her, I have to find her, I have to find her._

He started to walk around the block. The young man searched all the alleys around the apartment.

Should he go back to his safe house and look at the security camera footage?

No, that would take too long...

Then what should he do?

Perhaps he could contact the Oracle?

But the two didn't get along.

But it was for Mari...

At this precise moment, a rare event occurs: **Jason Todd panicked**.

As the dark-haired man had resigned himself to calling a member of the "bat-family," voices caught his attention.

"Shit! She runs quickly this little slut!"

A bunch of local scum were running around, out of breath. As he straightened up, he saw a figure running in front of them. A familiar figure, one he knew too well.

Honestly, Jason couldn't say what he did next.

His memories were foggy.

All the young adult knew was that he was on the roof of a building and the next thing he knew he had bodies at his feet. The young man blinked several times, then shook his head from right to left to come to his senses.

As he straightened his head, he saw the silhouette of his _little sister_ in the distance.

He left to join her.

When he arrived at her position, he saw that she was tense. After all that had happened, the young adult could not blame her in any way.

"Put your claws away, kid, it's just me."

"JASON!"

Never in his life would he have believed that a simple hug could provoke so many emotions.

-XxxX-

It had been dark for a while. As a result, there was hardly anyone in the streets. Two silhouettes were walking hand in hand towards their homes.

"Jay ... how did you find me?"

"Oh? I'm just really smart."

"..."

"When I got back, I found the apartment devastated ... I started to go around the corner and I found you."

"Okay..."

The little drops that had been falling for a while already became a momentary reverse.

The two partners took shelter in an abandoned building. This kind of abandoned building was not unusual in this part of the city. Once inside, they sat on the floor against each other. Jason put his helmet next to him. Marinette on her side then put her head against the man's shoulder.

For several minutes, the only audible sound was the raindrops hitting the ground.

Everything was very calm. The eurasian girl broke the silence.

"I almost killed someone today."

She felt her savior's muscles tighten. Leaving him no time to say anything, the young bluenette continued.

"I used to live in Paris. I had a family, friends, passions. I was a girl like any other living her ordinary little life in an ordinary world. Then one day... when fate chose me to fight against the forces of evil, I became a heroine named Ladybug. And my life changed completely when _those monsters_ appeared..."

Marinette told absolutely everything in one fell swoop.

Her meeting with Master Fu, the miraculous, her life as a superheroine, the secrets. Her training to become a guardian.

Then she told how her life changed after a certain Italian girl named Rossi appeared. The loss of her friends, the loss of her parents' trust, the mockery, the insults, the beatings.

She also told him how the boy she considered a friend turned his back on her from one day to another, leaving her alone to face the monsters that were growing stronger and stronger in a very short period.

Then came that fateful day when she discovered the body of the one who was like a grandfather to her. The betrayal of her former partner, the loss of her miraculous, the destruction of Paris, the defeat and finally her escape.

"Tonight, while watching television I discovered that my parents were executed by Hawk Moth. After that... I heard Lila Rossi's interview telling the story that my parents had earned their fate and that I was just a bad girl... I lost my mind and started destroying everything... So, I used one of the miraculous to go to Paris and... Do something I should've done a long time ago, but I didn't really have the guts. In the end I couldn't do it... I'm sorry, I just... I should have told the truth from the beginning but I... I'm sorry I... I'm really sorry. I'll understand if you don't want me to stay... I-I…"

For any answer the young man put an arm around her shoulder and brought her closer to him to take her in his arms.

"Mari, none of this is your fault."

"So... Y-You believe me?"

"Superman is an alien. Gotham is protected by a guy dressed as a bat. There's a league of weirder heroes living in a satellite perched above the earth's orbit... Shit, there's even a guy dressed as Robin Hood who protects Star City with a bow and arrow. So frankly, to learn that you're **_a magical girl_**..."

"A magical girl?! I wasn't a-"

"Hmm... Wait a minute, you're using an object to turn yourself into a heroine with a secret identity to fight a flying insect that turns people into manipulable dolls... sounds like a magical girl's scenario to me..."

Marinette didn't know what to say. She felt her cheeks burning. The girl had never thought of things in that way before.

"You know, girl... At least you've always been on the side of the good guys. That's not the same for everyone..."

The brunette felt her heart leap in her chest. The cold and distant tone Jason had just used didn't appeal to her at all. So, she broke away from his embrace to stand up and look him straight in the eye.

"Jason... Y-You don't have to tell me anything... I told you all this because I know I can trust you. Don't feel pressured to do the same."

"You're not the only one who's been hiding things, miss. Since you're honest with me, I'll be honest with you too. It's not kindness, it's common sense."

They stood still for a moment. Marinette understood that her friend had a lot on his mind too. She hugged him again.

"I'm all ears Jay ..."

Jason, in turn, confessed.

He told her about his childhood, about meeting Batman... How he was trained to succeed the first Robin... His death at the hands of the Joker - he went over the details; however, it was already sordid enough to talk about his own death -, his mysterious resurrection, his training with the league of assassins, his quest for revenge.

He told her absolutely everything.

At the end of his story, Marinette hugged him more tightly. Finally, they had both been hurt by people they had sincerely loved. They had both lost loved ones. They were both forced to live a waking nightmare.

**And now they were both alone.**

"Boo... boo... boo... Too much emotion I'm going to cry..."

They both jumped.

Jason was ready to pull out a gun but was stopped by Marinette.

"Wait, Jay! Don't worry, it's just Plagg... It's the Kwami of destruction, you know... I explained it to you earlier, about the Miraculous..."

Jason was speechless. In front of him stood a kind of... Cockroach? The thing was black with some kind of moustache, its eyes were piercing green. It was tiny... And the thing was floating. It was clearly a surreal vision for him. The... _thing_... came closer to him.

"I understand better now why you have that strange aura... It's because you're a zombie..."

"PLAGG!"

"What? That's right! The Lazarus pits are incomplete fountains, we must not use them improperly..."

"Wait, how do you know about those pits?"

"I have several millennia of life Mini-bug, I know almost all the mysteries of this world. If you want to know everything, Sugar Cube created these pits."

"TIKKI CREATED THE LAZARUS PITS?!"

"How do you think Fu managed to live so long..."

"Tell me if I'm disturbing you..."

His hamster... No, Marinette... turned to him and immediately apologized for leaving him out of the conversation.

The chatter continued for a long time.

Plagg lost no opportunity to tell the dark-haired that he disliked him. According to the flying cockroach he was too dangerous for the little girl, and if Jason had the misfortune to do her any harm, the rascal would suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs.

_Yeah, that's it. You can still try, fucking cockroach!_

However, although the conversation was not unpleasant, the rain had stopped a little while ago. They had to go home just to sleep. Once they arrived at their destination, they both went to bed immediately. The sun was about to rise... The cleaning could still wait until the afternoon, or even the next day.

-XxxX-

**A week later.**

**New York, 8:00 am**

**Two young people have been arguing for the umpteenth time since the start of the week.**

"It's out of the question."

"But why not? I can help you, Jason! I've talked to the Kwamis, they've agreed to help you!"

"That's not the point, girl, and you know it. I'm no hero."

"Of course, you are!"

"No. I've killed people, I've got blood on my hands, Marinette."

"...They deserved it..."

"Yes, they did... They deserved it. But it doesn't change the fact that this world isn't for you Nette If there's one thing I know, it's that once you go in there you can never come out. You can still live a normal life. The last thing I want is for you to end up like me."

"But..."

"There's no "but" in that. This discussion is over."

Jason left the room without a backward glance.

Marinette heard the front door close, a sign that Jason had left the apartment. The girl sighed annoyed. The reasons Jason put forward were unfounded to her. As if she had to ** _kill_** to help him.

And even if it was ... What did she have to lose?

**Nothing.**

"Mini-bug... I hate to admit it, but the criminal's right. He's living in a universe the exact opposite of yours."

"Leave me alone, Plagg."

The Kwami said nothing more for a moment.

The young lady then took the opportunity to go to the balcony of the apartment. The view was truly splendid.

The god of destruction followed her.

"Well then? She's sulking because her favorite punk said no…"

"..."

"Maybe, by making your little cat eyes, he'll accept. Nobody resists kittens."

"..."

"Marinette... Stop ignoring me."

"..."

"Marinette? Marinette ? Marinette ? Marinette ? MA-RI-NET-TE!"

" **Raaa!** For God's sake, Plagg, leave me alone!"

"Not before you told me what's wrong. The real reason, not this pathetic comedy you've been playing for a week."

She gave him a glare. The Kwami was not impressed and continued to stare at her with his piercing eyes. Her gaze turned again to the sky.

"You know, I'm feeling guilty about my last visit to Paris, Plagg. Except you see, what I regret is not what I did, but rather what I didn't do. That bitch deserved to die... And then you heard Jason's story the same way I did. My problems seemed insignificant compared to his."

Marinette then took her little friend in her hands and rubbed her cheek against his.

"I feel stupid, silly and selfish. If only... There was a way to lighten his burden, even a little bit... He's so lonely, Plagg. And the only thing he worries about is me not getting my hands dirty? But my hands are already dirty! Paris was almost completely destroyed because I was too weak! Master Fu is no longer of this world... I'm no hero, Plagg... I've never been one. If I had tracked Hawk Moth from the start instead of focusing on my damn feelings for Adrien none of this would have happened! But no! I waited like an idiot for Hawk Moth to come to me!"

This time, tears began to run down her cheeks.

"I love Jason. He's like a brother to me... Plagg... He's all I have left... If I lose him too I... I... I... If I lose you... Losing the other Kwamis... Plagg, I can't endure it... Don't you understand? I have to become stronger! And if I have to get my hands dirty to keep all of us safe, then so be it!"

The Kwami looked at her sadly. He stayed against her cheek for a long time.

"Mini-bug... I think that Jamon wants to protect you too."

"It's Jason."

"It's the same... You were wrong about one thing: He's not alone since you're here. Well, actually... You're a pair of fools who adores each other too much for their own good."

"Y-You think Jason adores me?"

The only reaction of the Kwami was to roll his eyes and flopped on the railing.

"Oh heaven ... what have I done to deserve this?"

"Plagg?"

"No ... I can't hear anything."

Plagg plugged his ears with his two paws. He stood up on the railing and started waddling around singing "I can't hear anything... I hear nothing... nothing at all" on a loop.

His performance had the merit of making Marinette laugh.

She finally wiped away her tears.

"Thank you, Plagg... For being here."

The Cat of Destruction smiled and swelled his chest proudly.

Later that evening, when Jason returned, he was greeted by a smiling Marinette. She apologized for giving him a hard time all week and promised that she would not insist anymore. Jason told her that it was okay, it had been a difficult week for both of them. The girl couldn't help but notice her _older brother's_ relief.

-XxxX-

The rest of the week went off without a hitch ... At least it should have been.

One night, while Jason and Marinette were packing up their things for their departure, someone knocked on the door. Jason glanced at the door for a moment.

"Mari, get your bag, NOW!"

"Eh?"

Before the brunette even knew what was happening, Jason threw himself on her and pushed her out the window.

**BOOM!**

Their apartment just blew up.

The landing was not easy. To prevent her from getting hurt, Jason had used his own body to absorb the shock of their fall. He got up immediately. Marinette, still in shock, took longer to recover. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two cars coming and armed men getting out of the cars.

Jason turned to her. Plagg was now by her side, she didn't know when he was there.

"GO AWAY, NOW!"

Marinette nodded in agreement. She straightened up and started running. Plagg followed her closely. Immediately there were sounds of gunfire.

**BANG, BANG, BANG!**

Tears ran down her cheeks like a flood.

She had just abandoned Jason to his fate. The same Jason who rescued her from a dirty, gloomy alley. The same man who had protected her, cared for her, fed her.

The same person who had introduced her to so many different places, who had accepted her despite her heavy secret.

"Mini-bug, look! A manhole cover, let's take refuge there!"

The former Ladybug complied mechanically. he set about removing the manhole cover. The manhole cover was heavy, but she still managed to get inside the sewer. Once alone in the middle of the putrid water, the girl cracked.

She cried.

Again.

And again.


	8. Lady Noire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette decides it's time to face the world. In the meantime... Some people finally notice Jason's absence...

Plagg managed to convince her to keep moving forward. Once again Marinette followed him. She walked like this for at least an hour. Her body was shaking, the water was cold. Her eyes fogged with tears didn't help her feel any warmer. Her backpack seemed to weigh a ton. They ended up finding another way out.

The Kwami cat began by checking the surface.

No one was there. The area was clear.

Marinette climbed the steps leading to the manhole cover with difficulty. Being in the water for so long had numbed her. But she had to keep going, she had no choice. Plagg at her side encouraged her to go on. Once on the surface, the brunette noticed that it was a dead-end alley that served as a garbage room. She hid behind one of the dumpsters.

Why her? What terrible sin had she committed that all those she loved should be torn from her in this way?

Plagg came and rubbed himself against her cheek.

"I'm sorry Marinette."

The eurasian girl did not answer and did not move for a moment either. Then, after gently stroking her companion's head with her fingertips, she pulled out of her bag the new box of miraculous. The girl opened it and watched the jewels carefully. Her hand came to caress the little watch that was in the box, the miraculous of the rabbit.

It would be so much simpler if she could just change the story... Change the time. At her side, the Kwami of destruction floated above her head with concern.

"Mini-bug... What are you planning to do?"

"I don't know. It would be so much easier if we could just... erase everything."

"Even if you use Fluff to go back in time, all you will do is create an alternative reality, it won't change anything in the present. To change a past event while staying in the same time line, we would have had to use the power of Sass... _Second_ _chance._ But it's too late for that."

"I know Plagg. That's why I'm going to move on."

"Huh?"

Marinette wiped away her tears. Her face showed a determined expression.

"I feel like I'm not going to like what I'm going to hear..."

The girl smiles at him.

"We're going to save Jason."

"Have you completely lost your mind?! Todd sacrificed himself so you can run away, and now you want to go back to the lion's den!"

"You see, you know his name..."

"We don't care about his name! What you're about to do is stupid!"

"You're right."

"Of course I'm right! I... Wait what?"

"Marinette can't save Jason... _Lady Noire_ on the other hand..."

"No... No! You can't be serious right now!"

" I'm dead serious."

"No, but have you gone completely insane? The delinquent must be de-"

"HE'S ALIVE!"

The Kwami flinched when she screamed.

"He's alive and I'm going to find him with or without your consent."

They stared at each other for a moment. Plagg finally sighed, resigned.

"Do what you want... I’m washing my paws of it."

For any answer she took him in her hands and put a kiss on his head. The Kwami smiled at this gesture. Marinette took the miraculous horse out of the jewel box and put it on the ground. Then she put the jewelry box once more in her bag and put it back on her shoulders. Finally, the girl turned her attention back to her feline companion.

"Plagg, claws out!"

She looked at herself stunned. Her suit had changed! She now had a cat-eared cape tied by a bell. On her right hand there were now two extremely sharp claws blade. It wasn't the only weapon that had appeared, at the end of her ponytail, which had been styled as a plait, there was now a blade that looked sharp!

Marinette shook her head.

She didn't have time to admire her new transformation! The first thing to do was to find other weapons for Jason... Probably there will be some in one of his many safe houses. The second thing to do would be to locate him and Kaalki was the ideal Kwami for this mission.

_Wait for me Jay... I'll save you; I promise._

-XxxX-

A man was actively working on his computer.

Dressed in his famous bat suit, Gotham's Dark Knight was worried. It had been several months since the infamous incident that destroyed an entire neighborhood... At least 100 people had been killed in that incident. The Gotham Knight had been unable to find any leads.

It was unusual.

His detective instincts told him something was wrong with the accident. The press had claimed it was an earthquake, but an earthquake made buildings fall apart. In this case, the buildings were _disintegrated_. To top it all off, one of his sons was _missing_.

Even though he didn't show it, Bruce was still worried about his second adopted son. He and Jason were not on good terms at all, and it was mostly his fault for not being able to find the right words.

Gotham's vigilant kept a constant eye on Jason.

As a rule, all he had to do was follow the blood trail he left in his wake. If this situation had the merit of making him angry, in the bottom of his heart, he was reassured to know that the young adult was _alive._ But it had been almost four months since he had shown any sign of activity. This was not normal.

"You know B., at this point it's definitely an obsession. How long have you been on this case?"

"Good evening to you too Nightwing. Anything new on your end?"

"No, nothing at all. It's like that girl is a ghost."

A silence fell in the place. Dick dropped himself on a chair next to his mentor's.

"You know, Damian thinks this girl is responsible for the collapse of this neighborhood."

"Hm. What do you think?"

"Honestly? I don't know. You should have seen it Bruce, that girl was a mess. I don't even know how she stood up. All those bandages... Her face was completely swollen. I didn't handle it right, given her condition she must have thought that we were going to do the same thing to her..."

"You say that as if she didn't try to kill us both with her accomplice."

Robin entered the room. He took off his hood, removed his mask while heading towards the two men.

"Good evening father."

"Good evening Damian. Dick just told me that you thought that girl you met was the cause of the disaster, what makes you think that?"

"Actually, it wasn't really her, but rather the one who accompanied her. Someone helped her escape and then made the building collapse so we couldn't chase her."

"I sees."

"It's not just that. I think she was a foreigner or at least not an English speaker. Probably a French person, or at least someone who could speak French. Whoever helped her said "sauve-toi." Then, when we were talking to this girl, she made an expression clearly indicating that she didn't understand what was being said to her. Besides, Dick didn't tell you everything. In fact, we managed to find a hatch in the building where we lost track of her. In fact, we managed to find a trap door in the building where we lost track of her. We hadn't found it before because of the rubble, but now that the area has been completely cleared, we've found it. This trap door leads to a long tunnel that allows access to several buildings. Very few buildings survived the incident. We inspected them one by one. A few were squatted."

"Yes, but the trail ends there. So in the end we're back to square one."

"-tt-..."

While his two sons argued about the usefulness of their find, Bruce remained perplexed. It was true that the two events seemed to be linked, he didn't believe in coincidences.

A notification caused him to shift his attention to his screen: a call from Red Robin.

"Good evening Batman, I've found something you absolutely need to see. Oh, hi Dick! Good evening Damian."

The first greeted him enthusiastically, while the second was content with a hand sign. A link appeared on the screen, sent by the masked hero.

"I'm on a case in New York. Apparently tonight there was supposed to be a big shipment of guns coming in from Mexico. Except when I arrived on the scene... I realized the cleanup had already been done... Given the extent of the damage, I figured it was Hood's doing. After all, it's not the first time he's done this to us. I wanted to get to the bottom of it and while doing my research, I discovered that there was a surveillance camera in the shed where the goods were to be delivered. While looking at it, I came across this... You must see it for yourself."

The video was not of very good quality, but you could still distinguish silhouettes. One of them was painfully familiar, it was Jason Todd. The man was tied in crosses on a kind of wheel. The other hooded men had fun using him as a target.

Bruce ignored the lump that had formed in his stomach.

Suddenly a shadow passed in front of the camera, then without warning, the scene filled with smoke. When the fog dissipated, all the men were on the ground except one who was impaled by someone wearing a cat hood.

The individual removed his weapon, revealing two blades hanging from his wrist like cat claws. He then turned to Jason, who was still attached to the wheel. He raised his left-hand and... a kind of black sphere formed in the palm of his hand and then disappeared. The hooded man touched the wheel with the same hand and the wheel disintegrated, freeing his prisoner. The exchange couldn't be heard, but it was clear that the cat-clad guy was giving Jason two weapons and his famous red helmet. Jason didn't wait to put it on.

Their dialogue continued.

However, the newcomer turned his back to the camera, which did not allow them to read his lips. As for Red Hood, he was wearing a helmet, so it was impossible to know what he was saying. However, the men on the ground - who were probably just stunned - began to get up. Immediately Jason stood in front of the hooded man and began to shoot. During the exchange of shots, the camera that was filming was hit and the images stopped.

Dick was the first to react.

"It looks like J. has made a new friend..."

His remark was totally ignored. Batman replayed the video and stopped when the black cape raised his left hand in the air before pressing _play again._

"I'm going to analyze these footages; we have to find out what the weapon used by this kid. Such dangerous equipment in the hands of the wrong people will produce a catastrophic result."

"Then it would be this guy who was with the girl the other day... It seemed to me, the voice I heard was that of a young person, maybe my age."

"It's still early to draw any conclusions, but all indications are that it was D."

"As I understand it, you still haven't been able to find the fugitive. Have you thought about consulting Bab's?"

"Yes Timmy, we have, except **all** the cameras in the area have gone up in smoke…"

Again there was a silence that settled in the bat-cave. Everyone was lost in thought at that moment. Finally the youngest of the group spoke again.

"Why are we making life so complicated? Now that we know he's one of Todd's minions, all we have to do is question him."

"Yeah, well... About that..."

Everyone's attention turned to the screen.

"The video you saw is the only trace of Todd for months... Red Hood was completely off the radar."

Reactions were mixed.

Batman squinted, as he already knew, Nightwing opened his eyes wide, and Damian didn't give a damn. Before the patriarch of the Bat-family could utter a word, the oldest of the former Robin's elders got ahead of him.

"Missing? What do you mean he's missing?"

"Well, that he was missing? Seriously, I've been looking for him everywhere for about four months. Since he's been hanging around, I wanted him to give me some information about a case... Anyway, I called him, but his cell phone was off. So I ended up checking all of his safe houses in Gotham. He wasn't anywhere. I asked Bab's to help me, but she couldn't locate him either. I know Todd's a... complex person, but after seeing that video..."

"He obviously just skipped town. In fact, it's a wonder he even made it to Gotham without anyone noticing..."

"I thought about it, Dick, but when I say he was nowhere, I mean he was nowhere. I even contacted Roy. But he couldn't reach him either, his phone was off. It's like he just disintegrated in the wilderness. And then he reappears as a dartboard... I just wondered how long he'd been captured..."

Dick felt his blood freeze in his veins. Since Jason's resurrection, he had tried to patch things up with his younger brother, but he was recalcitrant. A sense of regret was overwhelming. If Timmy was right... Then his little brother must have endured God knows what for several months!

Bruce got up from his seat and silently walked to his bat-mobile.

"I'm going to look at the Watchtower. Dick, I'll ask you to stay a little longer on Gotham. Damian, I want you to go with him. Tim, keep looking for Jason with Barbara. We have to find him at all costs."

With these words, the Mentor of the Robins entered his vehicle and left. Immediately, Timothy disconnected, leaving Dick and Damian alone.

-XxxX-

**At the same time, a few shares in the shabby neighborhoods of New York.**

Jason looked at the sleeping little brunette on the mattress. He covered her with a blanket and let her rest. This evening had been... Special. The young man would have sincerely wanted his young friend not to cross that damn red line.

**Marinette killed someone tonight.**

Jason ran his hand through his hair. No, it wasn't like that.

**Marinette had saved him tonight.**

He sat at the edge of the bed and closed his eyes. The scene was always clear in his mind.

The only thing that went through his mind when he saw the men get out of the two cars at the foot of their building was to get the girl to safety. That's why he was so relieved when she obeyed his order to run away. The trouble was that he was so focused on her that he could barely concentrate on the battle ahead of him.

What a stupid mistake. He got captured like a rookie.

He finally woke up strapped to a wheel. Those creeps wanted to use him as a target? It was an appallingly mundane thing to do. The bastards in this town were sorely lacking in imagination... at least the Gotham creeps had a more... artistic sense of torture. Despite his situation, the dark-haired was not at all worried about his fate. He was Jason Todd. This kind of moron he ate them for breakfast. The young man took it upon himself to stay for a little while longer, until he knew who had captured him and why he had been targeted in the first place.

Seeing that he was awake, they started throwing knives.

Big deal.

His mind began to wander. His thoughts were more on Marinette... His poor little hamster must have been terrified, lost somewhere in this big city. He opened his eyes, wondering when he had closed them. It was there that he saw something: a silhouette had entered the hangar.

Jason had no time to ask any more questions because the room was filled with greyish smoke.

Smoke.

He heard screams. A few shots. Probably in a panic, one of the guys rushed at him, gun in hand to shoot him while he was still tied up.

A female voice, which he did not recognize resonated.

"NO!"

When the smoke cleared, he saw two figures in front of him. One was being impaled by the second. That's when Jason saw it. It was a young woman... not very tall in a cat's hooded cape. Her eyes were hidden by a black and green mask. On her right wrist were two claws blade covered in blood.

"Jay! Oh my God, Jay what did they do to you?"

"Who... No... Marinette?"

"Call me Lady Noire! I'm going to set you free. CATACLYSM!"

All right. Good.

_THIS FELINE IS MARINETTE? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?_

The wheel that held him prisoner _disintegrated._

She handed him two loaded weapons and his red helmet. He took the helmet and put it on. It was an automatism.

"I'm so sorry Jay... I shouldn't have left you..."

Jason saw that the men on the ground were getting up. Red Hood would chat with the little girl later.

The guys weren't happy. His reflex was to push her behind him.

He shot.

Needless to say, in a gun fight, only one winner was possible... Him, of course.

They left together. By his side, Marinette had returned to her normal appearance. She gave cheese to the floating cat. A cat that eats cheese... He really saw everything…

Jason opened his eyes.

He was always at the edge of the bed.

The only audible noise was the breathing of the little bluenette. At that moment Jason didn't really know what shocked him the most. Having been saved by a _magical girl_ (the little lady had told him that she had magical powers but hearing it and seeing hit was two different things) or knowing that the girl in question had killed someone for him in **cold** **blood.**

‘Cause yes, she had eliminated someone.

Not only did she not look more disturbed than that, but she also seemed proud of her act!

"He deserved it."

Those are her exact words.

_Damn... Did I make her became like this?_

But what was done could not be erased.

One thing was clear in his mind, he would not abandon Marinette. **Never.**

_Come to think of it, we'll never know what those guys wanted from me..._

He left the house discreetly so as not to wake up his _sister_ and her _pet cockroach_. The dark-haired man walked to a phone booth he'd spotted a few hours earlier and frantically tapped the numbers. Jason didn't have to wait long for a familiar voice to answer.

"Hey Roy... It's been a while..."

"Jay?"

**Back to the present.**

A car stopped in the middle of an uninhabited area. It was a place made up of several disinfected buildings, abandoned for a very long time. Two silhouettes got out of the car and headed for one of the many deserted buildings. Both were carrying suitcases and backpacks each.

"Jay... Are you sure this is the right place?"

"Certain miss."

" It doesn't really look like... you know, an airport?"

"That's because it's not, Mari."

"Seriously, Jason! Are we even allowed to be here?"

"Uh, no?"

"..."

"Mari, do I need to remind you that you entered the country illegally? That means you don't have a passport to travel, kiddo. And I'm supposed to be dead. Irregular immigrants and corpses can't travel legally, miss."

"I, uh... hadn't thought about that."

They climbed up some stairs and arrived on a roof where a splendid helicopter was waiting for them. Jason opened the door on the passenger side of the helicopter, which Roy had found for him. He threw his bag and suitcase in without further ado. Next to him, Mari sighed annoyed while putting her own things in it. Meanwhile, he settled into the cockpit. He was soon joined by the brunette. The little one had been on edge since the beginning of the day, he had felt it but had chosen not to hold it against her. After all it was a new start for her.

"You know, this is the first time I've ever been in a helicopter..."

" Don't worry Mini-Nette, next time you'll be the one flying it."

"Hmm..."

"You know we can always give up, right? You don't have to do that."

"I told you I will not change my mind! I’m just... Afraid I can't handle it... Wasting your time... A lot of things actually, and... Jason, are you seriously yawning?"

Indeed, Jason had his mouth open to get his jaw off. Clearly a yawn more than exaggerated.

"You're asking too many Mini-Nette questions. You're thinking too much, Mini-Nette. Start by living in the present. We'll deal with the future when it comes."

No answer came to him, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her smile.

It was the only answer he needed.

Jason noticed that she had the horrible cockroach on her knees, obviously asleep.

The best news of the day!

He turned the apparatus on.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small chronological precision!
> 
> \- Between the time Tim goes to the scene and the time Jason and Marinette leave the same place, only a few hours go by. They could have crossed paths...  
> -From chapters 5 to 8, this is actually a flashback. The beginning of chapter 5 shows Jason and Marinette getting ready to leave. Then, at the end of chapter 8, you see them leaving.  
> \- When Jason and Marinette left Gotham for the first time in Chapter 5 (at the very beginning of the story ), they had been living together for a month. At the end of this chapter 8, they have been travelling together for five months. Jason only talks about four months because that's how long it takes for the two of them to really get along. The first month that Marinette stayed with him, they barely spoke to each other.
> 
> \- Roy didn't lie at all to Tim when he told him that he didn't know where Jason was. He contacted him after Tim asked him. And Jason made him swear not to tell where he is. However,Jason knows they think he's missing, and he wants to keep it that way.
> 
> \- How come Jason wasn't spotted when he was actually out with Marinette in broad daylight? It's simple: he's a former Robin, he knows the location of most of Batman's surveillance devices. Moreover, he always goes out in disguise so that he is not recognized and only goes out in very little frequented alleys.
> 
> -Tikki is at the origin of Lazarus' pit, but it is incomplete! Why? The reason is simple: she did not create this pits of her own free will... Poor Tikki was ill and as she was delirious she accidentally created the Lazarus's pits! Plagg then wanted to cover her mistake by destroying the trace of the pits which led to the destruction of the dinosaurs... In the end, he failed since the pits are still there. xD


	9. Of Ashes and Embers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for practice. From these ashes will be born embers.

"It's official, I'm going to die.”

**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

Marinette threw herself behind a car, gun in hand. She then crawled to the nearest wall. There she hid behind a shed. As soon as she had an opening, the girl fired into the crowd. Not necessarily effective, but she didn't have much choice, her angle of vision was far too bad. To make things worse, the lady was surrounded by Mexican traffickers in the middle of their territory. And as if the situation wasn't desperate enough, she had been separated from Jason. The weapon she was holding was soon out of ammunition and the only other weapon she had available was a knife.

Facing an army of smugglers armed to the teeth with a knife! No magic outfit to protect her from bullet, no special powers. No Miraculous Ladybugs to fix everything...

Just her, the knife and death.

TARATARATARATARA!

_Well, they've got the automatic rifle out now..._

The eurasian girl let herself slide down the wall while looking up at the sky. It was night, the stars were shining beautifully in the sky. It was a beautiful evening. In spite of herself, Marinette started laughing at the situation. When the young lady had agreed to follow Jason into the abyss that was his daily life, she was clearly not ready.

Plagg had warned her well.

Marinette reloaded her weapon with her last loader. She took a deep breath and looked around. She was not far from a bridge. The current was very strong, but if she managed to jump into the water, she could lose those men, none of them would chase her that far.

Her whole body was shaking.

It was fear.

The young lady breathed softly again and then exhaled quietly, lulled by the sound of the shots.

_Come on Mari, it's time to remember everything you've learned so far..._

**8 MONTHS AGO**

Crawl, climb, jump, balance and start all over again.

Who knew the Guyanese jungle was so unwelcoming?

For several days now, Marinette had been undergoing military training with Jason. He knew the location of a former military base of the French armed forces located in a department called French Guyana.

Jason's first rule: no Miraculous.

"You're too dependent on your magical powers, kid, if you can't transform or if you don't have any miraculous with you, you're going to get yourself killed."

So Marinette had to give up her feline friend.

This was not done without difficulty.

"Mini-bug... This guy is dangerous, and this training is crazy! You've never played so many sports in your life and you want to follow a veteran military program?! You'll be dead by the end of the week!"

"Plagg... Try to understand, I need to get stronger. Otherwise I'll never be able to protect you, protect the other Kwamis and... Protect Jason."

"That guy doesn't need protection, Marinette, he needs a therapist! And then you want to get strong to protect other people? You still have to be alive to do that... We Kwamis know how to defend ourselves, we're not all as nice as Nooru, _Mini-bug_."

"..."

"Marinette, what you're looking for isn't safety for your loved ones, it's revenge for your relatives. It's not the same thing at all... You are not ready to enter in this world of violence and blood, kiddo."

"I hope you'll forgive me. Thank you for everything, Plagg."

It was the last interaction between the two before a very long time.

That's when her hell began.

Every day at 5:00 a.m., she would start stretching, then had to run for 1 hour around the base camp without taking a break, otherwise she had to start all over again. Once the shooting was over, the girl was allowed to have lunch.

Then the morning followed with different muscle and stretching exercises until about 9:30 am. She only had a 10 minutes break before starting a 3 hours class where Jason taught her different types of subjects: mathematics, chemistry, physics, world history, geography, language (currently Spanish). She had one subject per day from Monday to Saturday. Then on Sunday, the dark-haired gave her a 2-hour test on absolutely everything they saw during the week. If she made more than three mistakes, she had to run 30 minutes more per mistake the following week before going to bed.

In the afternoon, it was the "warrior's ride". The trail changed every day - She became to wonder if Jason slept at night-. But the drills were pretty much the same: crawling through a swamp with barbed wire over it. Climbing up slippery vertical walls. Climbing trees without any protection. Staying balanced on a pole for as long as possible without moving and all this while carrying a constant weight on your back, which increased from week to week.

By the time she finally reached the end, it was sometimes already 10.30 pm. She could finally have dinner. Then she had 30 minutes of jogging to do before going to bed, and then she would start all over again the next day. Her only "free day" during the week was Sunday.

She had only a 2-hour test in the evening...

In six different subjects...

Knowing that during the week she was too tired to go over the lessons of the day before...

6 subjects in less than a day.

She went into military prep and no one told her?

**Jason was a sadist.**

However, Marinette was sure of it, her companion was working three to four times as hard as she was. How did he manage to keep up? He followed the exact same route as she did, prepared lessons, made food, prepared the tests.

Every day. What was his secret?!

The lady had to admit, the first two weeks were extremely difficult. The bluenette girl thought her body was going to give her up at any moment. And then Jason didn't do anything to encourage her, on the contrary, he seemed amused by her misfortune.

Finally a thought crossed his mind.

_He wants me to give up._

And suddenly everything made perfect sense.

Plagg was right, this training was madness. Only this madness was thoughtful. Jason had never wanted her to help him, on the contrary, the man wanted her to enjoy life. In one of their arguments before he was captured, Jay had said this sentence...

_"I don't want you to end up like me.”_

Plagg's words reasoned in her mind.

_"What you are looking for is the revenge of your relatives.”_

_"You're not ready to enter in this world of violence and blood, kiddo.”_

Marinette came to a conclusion: Jason was thinking exactly the same thing as Plagg.

The brunette got up with difficulty and wiped her sweaty forehead. She was covered with mud in front of an obstacle that had to be climbed over.

Marinette looked at the wall in front of her. Memories popped into her mind.

Her time as a Ladybug, the patrols, the fights, her friendship with Cat Noir... the learning of knowledge as a guardian with Master Fu...

The time spent in the company of those she considered as friends, the outings to the movies, to the coffee shop, Kim's stupid challenges, the plans to confess to Adrien...

The time spent as a student representative, all that time planning outings, making commissions for her friends, for Jagged.

The time spent crying over rumors spread by Lila, the time spent defending herself against false accusations. Her parents...

All those things... was that really what she wanted? Ladybug's role had been forced upon her. Her partner, she didn't choose him.

Friends? She didn't have any until the ninth grade, every other year the girl was alone facing Chloe's tasteless jokes. Most of the dates she didn't choose them either... It was more to please others. Plans to confess to Adrien came mostly from Alya.

Her time as a representative? It was just a big joke... Miss Bustier "trusted her so much," the good woman gave her assignments normally reserved for teachers. She had to organize trips for her other classmates! The brunette had even found herself several times having to make costumes for students in other classes, at her own expense! Now that the young lady was thinking about it... She had also never been paid to make Jagged's album covers.

And Lila...

Lila...

Marinette suddenly jumped up and managed to catch the rope a little higher up on the obstacle to help her get over it. The eurasian girl managed to get over the obstacle quite quickly and immediately continued with the rest. It was a swim across the river. All the other times Jason had had to pick her up because she was being swept away by the current. This time she managed to cross alone.

Her mind projected the image of Jason on a wooden wheel being tortured. She remembered her parents being executed on live television. The image of Mayura also appeared with her smug smile, convinced that she was finished. The laughter of Hawk Moth seemed to resonate in the forest.

_"What you are looking for is not the safety of loved ones."_

**Who said they deserved to be saved?**

_"What you seek is the revenge of your relatives.”_

**Who says I want revenge for them?**

_"You're not ready to enter this world of violence and blood, kiddo.”_

**Because I was ready to be Ladybug? Because I was asked for my opinion before I was forced into the role of Guardian?**

_"I don't want you to end up like me.”_

**Who said I wanted to be like you?**

Marinette smiles.

That day she cleared all the obstacles in record time. And that didn't change the next few days. The young lady began to learn twice as fast as before, so much so that she mastered the English and Spanish languages fluently in less than three months. Marinette no longer made any mistakes at the tests; she could even afford to sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Jason was clearly impressed... and above all curious. One day he ended up asking her what had changed. At first, she just laughed and didn't answer him, but Jason insisted and got an answer.

"Plagg told me I wasn't cut out for all this... That what I was really looking for was revenge from those around me and that I was hiding behind my parents' death and my role as a guardian to justify it."

"Mm-hmm... I don't think he's wrong."

"I knows."

"That doesn't answer my question, _Minette_..."

"It does, actually, I just answered it, Jay."

"Okay, I admit, I'm not following you, Mari."

"I don't do this for other people, I do it for me."

"Okay?"

"I've spent my whole life doing what other people want me to do... This time, I want to do something for me."

Jason didn't answer. He seemed pensive. So the brunette thought it would be good to add one more thing.

"I didn't follow you to become your apprentice Jay, I'm with you because I want to be your equal. And if I have to follow the path of revenge for that, then... so be it."

She finishes her sentence with a sincere smile.

The bluenette remained speechless for a moment. Then a sonorous laugh was heard in the forest.

"You know what, I was wrong about you Marinette... Ahahahaha! You're completely insane... Ahahahaha!"

Once he managed to calm down, he resumed in a calmer tone.

"If you want to go to hell with me so badly, I won't stop you... _Partner_."

The eurasian girl looked at him with round eyes, then started laughing as well. A gentle warmth spread through her. The sweet Marinette had been broken, but maybe something could still be made from her ashes?

The next three months were just as crazy... Jason began to teach her the art of using different types of weapons. Shooting different types of targets in the wackiest positions... Such as shooting at a target, while being tie upside down, along a waterfall...

Why would you do that?

"You have to be able to shoot from any position and under any circumstances. If you wait until an ideal situation arises, you'll get killed before you've even finished thinking.”

Since she had managed to learn the first lessons quickly, Jason increased the difficulty by giving her two subjects a day this time. Some subjects were harder for her than others, such as lip-reading. Or remembering all types of metals and their usefulness. To study the different types of care, remedies, injuries, to be able to make a diagnosis... She had no desire to become a nurse or a doctor!

"You have to be able to detect your wounds and their seriousness, that's called knowing your weaknesses Mari. And then, you have to be able to treat yourself with the means at hand. It's called survival.”

Some subjects were meaningless to her... Like tea. Yes, that was a subject according to Jason! The different ways of making tea, how to serve it, with what utensils... The art of setting the table was also a subject apparently...

"You must be able to blend in with all kinds of crowd!”

To make things even harder, she also had a book to read every week, often classics in their original language... But she didn't always know the language...

"Jason, are you kidding me?! I can't read Mandarin!"

"And? So what's wrong with that?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with that? I can't read a 200-page Mandarin book in a week without knowing Mandarin!"

"Well... You just have to learn it."

"..."

He added resistance tests where she had to train three days in a row without sleeping... Or go several days without eating while being chased. Having to swim with her hands tied in water with a strong current. Resisting drowning...

"Swim with my hands tied behind my back? Seriously?! In the Amazon?! Like the river with piranhas, crocodiles and electric eels?!"

"That's good, you've been studying up on your Amazon wildlife lesson."

"Who in their right mind would do something like that?!"

"Uh... The U.S. Navy?"

"I said in their right mind!"

Then came the “courage tests”. Marinette had to allow herself to be invaded by cockroaches, spiders and other horrible insects without moving - in other words, she had been cured of her phobia of cockroaches-. For hours, the young lady had to jump from the top of some waterfalls without even knowing how deep the water was below. She had to walk on a rope tied to trees without any protection. Then there was the famous bungee jumping WITHOUT bungees.

"Jason... I don't need your help to kill myself."

"Well, what? I'm just making a few suggestions..."

"I hate you."

"I love you, too, Minette. Now hurry up and jump before I push you."

This ordeal lasted two whole months. That's a total of five months of intensive training. After this time Jason decreed that she had finally reached the minimum level to work with him.

So practice time was fast approaching.


	10. This is Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Denial is a form of protection...

Jason chose to take Marinette to a circus that had set up near the U.S. border. He suspected that the circus was a cover for human trafficking between Mexico and the United States. The dark-haired then took the opportunity to teach his young disciple the art of disguise.

They succeeded in being recruited as acrobats -Dick had not been an influence in this choice at all-. The first two days nothing happened. It was on the third day that Jason realized one thing: Marinette seemed to have caught the attention of one of the clowns in the circus. The young lady had understood this as well.

This cover lasted about three months.

It was an evening when things took a decisive turn. Jason and Marinette together had managed to roughly identify the rest of the traffickers. They were the clowns and the mime troupe. The others were innocent or maybe just burying their heads in the sand.

No, it wasn't really like that.

These poor people lived in constant fear.

Some evenings, he would see some girls come out crying from some of the trailers. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened to them. The situation made his blood boil, but if there was one thing Jason had understood over time, it was that you had to be patient.

Marinette was outraged by the situation.

He knew it.

The girl was taking her pain patiently, but the rage he saw in her eyes told him that she would soon crack.

One night, after a performance, shots were heard in the camp.

Jason was one of the first to rush out to see what was going on. The daughter of one of the animal trainers had been shot in the head.

First there was screaming, then panic.

Jason looked everywhere for Marinette but couldn't find her. She wasn't the only one missing. That had a way of making him angry and he discreetly went to look for his weapons.

The fact was that Marinette had been kidnapped after the show.

Or rather, she had let herself be kidnapped... The young man had trained her well enough to know that these guys weren't a problem for her.

That meant one thing: the brunette wanted to stop them on her own.

**Damn it.**

He managed to find out without too much trouble who was responsible for the carnage. He also found the people who had disappeared.

Unfortunately, there was no trace of Marinette anywhere.

One of the girl’s present told him that she had been separated from the group from the beginning.

He quickly took the victims back to the circus before disappearing again. This time in the direction of the forest. The dark-haired man had managed to make the kidnappers talk. So he knew where their base camp was.

**The only thing he hoped was not to be too late.**

**PRESENT TIME**

You couldn't eliminate someone in cold blood on a whim.

Marinette knew that now.

For all the pain, all the anger, all the hatred that the former Ladybug felt, there was a great truth ingrained in the depths of her being.

She knew far too much about the value of life to want to take it away from someone else, how much even that person wanted to hurt her.

That's why she hadn't shot Lila that night in Paris.

Because no matter how much the little guardian hated her from the bottom of her heart, she knew what it was like to lose someone close to you, to lose people you care about.

Marinette couldn't see herself inflicting this pain on another person, no matter how vile this person could be.

This feeling of powerlessness made her even more angry with herself.

All this training, all these exercises to make her stronger, all this knowledge she had stored up. All this for nothing?

**Tap, Tap, Tap, Tap.**

Footsteps.

The men had gone as far as down by the river to find her. They were determined to kill her.

Marinette crawled through the mud near the shore where she had landed and hid under a pile of branches.

She did her best to control her heartbeat. Then she tried to control her breathing and concentrated on her surroundings.

In the distance the dogs barking could be heard.

The traffickers weren't kidding.

They were going to great lengths to find her.

_"You're not ready to enter this world of violence and blood, kiddo.”_

Once again, Plagg's voice reasoned in her mind.

Marinette sighed.

She then whispered to herself.

"Okay, I admit you were right... And now what do I do?"

She was alone in that swamp. No one answered her. On the other hand, the sound of footsteps and the barking of the dogs was clearly audible to her.

Marinette was out of ammunition; she just had a knife.

In her mind then came a scene.

That of the little girl who was cowardly shot dead in front of her by the traffickers. These men had no pity, no feelings, no souls. They were just monsters who thought only of their own little pleasure and too bad if it meant destroying the lives of others for their own satisfaction.

A conversation she had had a few months earlier with Jason made much more sense now.

"I don't understand Jay... In what way is Batman's doing wrong?"

"What he's doing isn't wrong, just completely ineffective."

"What do you mean, ineffective? He's arresting criminals, isn't he?"

"The police are corrupt, most cops work for one or more members of the mob. You know what Batman does when he puts them in jail? He drives them home. They'll go to their friends, just get housed, laundered and fed on the backs of Gotham's taxpayers. Then they'll be released and commit the exact same crimes over and over again. They'll go free, but their victims won't come back. Now, tell me something... What was the point of you fighting Hawk Moth over and over again?"

"..."

"Why do you think he always came back?"

"..."

"I'll tell you one thing Mari, we can't make crime disappear, but we can control it. The best way to control criminals is to instill fear in them. But here's the thing, not everyone is intimidated. For those who are not afraid, there is only one solution: extermination."

**Fighting evil with evil.**

It was Jason's choice to face the grim world in which he lived.

But was she capable of it?

No.

The bluenette couldn't kill them for lack of courage...

But there was nothing to stop her from immobilizing them, right?

If she wounded them without killing them, but by a certain lack of luck some of them died, it wouldn't be her fault!

After all...

**Marinette had given them a chance.**

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her stomach was twisting, she had a terrible urge to puke.

_That's survival... It's survival... This is survival..._

She repeated that phrase several times like a mantra.

Marinette took a deep breath and crawled down to the riverbank and then she let herself slide into the water discreetly and waited patiently for the men to approach her. Before diving the eurasian girl had counted two men and three dogs. The young lady was able to stay underwater for up to five minutes, thanks in large part to the training Jason had given her. Even if she exceeded that time, she had learned to resist drowning.

**_"Control your mind and you will control your body."_ **

That's what Jason taught her.

The men looking for her had made a serious mistake: their feet were knee-deep in water.

As the dogs became excited because her scent was so strong in the mud, her two enemies were completely focused on them. She couldn't see clearly underwater, but from the way their feet were pressing on the bottom of the water, it wasn't hard to tell.

That was the moment.

In a split second and with surgical precision, Marinette sliced the Achilles tendon of the one closest to her. The man fell into the water screaming.

Taken by surprise, his sidekick started shooting almost immediately, but without any distinction, hitting his partner at the same time. Marinette used her victim as a human shield. 

The trafficker waited a moment, seeing the body of his comrade and the blood, he deduced that he had probably also touched their assailant.

The dogs barked again and again, completely excited by the scene in front of them.

The surviving trafficker then turned his back to the water.

He didn't take two steps forward. A shot hit him in the middle of the back. The force of gravity caused his body to collapse forward.

Just behind him was Marinette with a new gun in her hand, the one that belonged to the man who had been coldly executed by his partner. She walked slowly towards the man who was still alive but dying on the ground.

The bluenette then said to him in clear Spanish.

"<Call off your dogs.>"

"<F-F-F-Fu-u-u-ck you, b-b-b-bitcc-c-c-h-h-h-h.>"

The bluenette only smiled and shot in the direction of the three animals without the slightest hesitation. However, she did not do it to kill them, only to scare them.

The three mutts fled in fear.

"<How unfortunate... They were your only chance of survival.>"

Marinette retrieved the weapons and ammunition the man was carrying and went into the forest. She took her time to move away, lulled by the cries of rage of the only surviving criminal.

Her heart no longer hurt.

Her throat was no longer tied.

Her body was no longer shaking.

The reason?

The bluenette had understood one thing: she didn't need to kill them. Just neutralize them, and if some of them got shot during the altercation, well...

It was absolutely not her fault that those morons couldn't shoot properly.

She wasn't the one to blame.

**It was all about survival.**

-XxxX-

Jason ran as fast as he could through the foliage.

His only desire was to " _kill_ " Marinette!

What completely crazy and wacky idea could have crossed the mind of this kid to believe that running headlong into the middle of a group of human traffickers was a good idea?

Especially on her own.

No.

She wasn't the one to blame. He was.

The eurasian girl was emotionally unstable, and he knew it.

Of course, seeing a child being executed right under her nose would cause her to react violently.

He was in a rage because of that crime scene.

However, for all the rage he could feel, the young adult saw things in the long term. Certainly, when he was younger, the dark-haired had often made decisions based on his emotions.

Nevertheless, he was no longer the Jason who had emerged from the Lazarus's pit. A frustrated, angry, stubborn kid. He was now a frustrated, angry, stubborn and patient man.

But Marinette was not like him.

In fact, his young friend looked a lot like Richard Grayson. It was this thought that led him to choose this circus as his first job with Marinette. She was an adorable, helpful and well-behaved person, but who would turn into a wild beast if you had the misfortune to touch one of her loved ones. In a way, you could say that the city of Paris had been _her Blüdhaven_.

Jason was no fool.

He could see, feel that there was darkness inside her. The various losses his little hamster had suffered in such a short time had seriously impaired her judgment.

This girl was a time bomb.

A single spark would be enough to send her into madness. As if that wasn't enough, the girl had powerful artifacts with her that would obey her finger and eye.

Really, hadn't that ancient guardian of Miraculous become too senile? Who would entrust magical powers that could destroy the world to a 13-year-old girl?

Hmm... Come to think of it, there was Shazam. But that was clearly not the point.

It was also the reason the dark-haired kept her around.

Of course, he enjoyed her company very much. She took away the loneliness that he had been in for so long.

But more than that, Jason wanted to protect Marinette from her own darkness.

The young adult knew all too well what it felt like to live only for revenge. It was a powerful, terrible and above all horribly lonely feeling.

Jason had thought about giving her to Bruce. Heavens, he'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it yet, but... Everything about it screamed at him that it was a VERY bad idea.

The first thing the old man would do, would be to take away her Miraculous and lock them up in a place known only by him. Then he'd force her to go to therapy... Not to mention enlisting her in his little soldier's line.

Bruce will force her to think like him.

Marinette could follow Bruce's rules for a while, he was convinced, but she would eventually cross the line sooner or later and at that time... God only knows what Bruce would do to her.

He wouldn't be gentle, especially knowing that she had been his partner.

He'd probably lock her up in Arkham, right next to the Joker, just to make sure to break her down.

**TAP, TAP, TAP.**

Someone runs towards him.

That bring him back to reality.

He stopped abruptly, then crouched quietly behind one of the trees in the damn forest...

A figure appeared in front of him. He squeezed his gun gently and waited. When the silhouette was close enough to him and he was ready to shoot, the person in front wallowed masterfully on the ground because of a root.

Jason remained stunned for a moment.

"Ouch! It's official, I hate the woods."

_That voice..._

"Marinette, is that you?"

The miss went into a defensive position in a split second.

Jason immediately smiles as he sees her reaction.

It was very good, even if there was still work to do -it was not at all smart to have the guard down in enemy territory like that-, at least she was able to get into combat position quickly at the slightest alert.

He raised his hands in the air gently.

"Easy, Minette, it's just me."

"Jason? JASON!"

She threw herself at him.

At this point he noticed that his young apprentice was completely dirty and covered with mud. Nevertheless, she was safe and sound.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yes, just a few scratches."

"The traffickers?"

"Dead."

Jason gently pulled her away from him and looked into her eyes. She looked away.

"Let's say almost dead... In my defense, they shot themselves..."

The dark-haired wasn't convinced but decided to go for it. Running his hand through the youngest girl's hair, he realized that the dye had almost completely disappeared.

"Come on, let's go home, Mari."

She gave him a radiant smile and took him by the hand.

The return trip was silent. The two-walking side by side hand in hand.

Marinette was dangerous.

But Jason wasn't afraid to flirt with danger.

That kid would be his death someday.

But he was eager to get carried away.

It didn't matter if she wasn't in her right mind, if she was bipolar around the edges.

The former Robin wasn't sane either and he was emotionally disturbed, he had nothing to envy anyone in that aspect.

He now had a friend, a sister, a partner.

And he will eliminate anyone who tries to take that kid away from him.


	11. The Fate of a Black Cat [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why did Cat Noir betray Ladybug? Here's the first part.

Sirens were ringing in the city. 

Two figures were running and jumping from roof to roof, both carrying bags on their backs. The police were on hand in their cars, but the two smartest ones broke into a building without them being able to see it from their vehicles.

They entered and hid in the stairwells. Not the ideal hiding place, but it was enough, and more importantly, it was a place without cameras. They changed at lightning speed. They put on civilian clothes and left the building as if nothing had happened. From the outside, it looked like just a mother and son walking around.

The next day, the robbery made headlines: "The Crown Jewels Stolen! Catwoman and her sidekick Swiper struck again! ».

A beautiful young brown woman with green eyes was eating breakfast while reading the newspaper, amused.

" _Kitten_... You'll never guess what the British press called you! "

"Hm? It's too early, Selina. Let me sleep... "

Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, laughed heartily. She stretched out and got up, put the newspaper next to her son before leaving to get dressed. Her cheerfulness was heightened when she heard a scream.

" _Swiper_? Seriously?! That means "thief" in French, right? What kind of name is that?! "

"That, my little Adrien, is the downside of success... Hahahahaha "

"Stop laughing... "

Adrien Agreste, alias Felix Kyle, now known as Swiper, stuck his head in his pillow. Still with the pillow in his arms, he finally turned to his adoptive mother.

"Are you going out?"

"Yes, Kitten, I already have several buyers interested in our merchandise. You know as well as I do that, we have to be quick."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"And miss my date? No way, kitten. Stay here and take a nap. Mama Selina will take care of the rest. "

With these words the brunette left the scene, not without giving him a last kiss.

The young man closed his eyes, pensive. It would soon be six months since he had been living with Selina. From a rich model, heir to a fashion guru, he had become a thief, fugitive and disinherited. Well, now... As a social downgrade, there was always worse.

**6 MONTHS AGO**

Adrien was genuinely happy. That day, his friends had prepared a surprise party for him, he really had a great time. Even his friend Marinette was there! So it was with a big smile that he went to bed. He was about to take a shower and then put on his Ladybug pajamas, but his cell phone started ringing. To his surprise, it was a call from his father.

"Hello, father?"

"Good evening, Adrien. Everything going well? "

The blonde froze in place. Had his father found out he let his best friend have a party at his house? oh, no, no, no... He was already seeing himself taking home classes alone and isolated from everyone. His poor heart was pounding so hard in his chest that he was sure his father could hear it.

"Son? Adrien, are you there?"

"Huh? I... Yes! Yes, I'm fine father. Uh... Do you... need anything?"

"Hm. I wanted to, uh... Apologize."

"Apologize? What was that for?"

"I'm sorry you didn't come with me, Adrien. That you're not with me."

"Uh... I'm sorry but I think I waited wrong. What did you say?"

"I know I haven't been around much since... _the incident_. When I arrived at my hotel, I realized that I would have liked you to be with me. I really do."

"Father, I... I'm worried about you."

"Adrian, when I get home, I'd like you and I to spend more time together."

"I... hmm... All right?"

"Perfect. Have a good night, son."

"Yeah, uh... thanks? "

The call ended and the young boy stared at his screen for a long time. This conversation had been... special. He then went to wash up.

His father returned a few days later.

The most amazing thing? He kept his promise.

After his return, the designer spent more time with his son. He was there for every breakfast, allowed him to go out more, and even lightened his schedule so they could have dinner together. Adrien didn't really know what his father was up to, but he was genuinely happy. At last the blond boy was reunited with his father. 

His joy was short-lived.

After four weeks, his father summoned him to his office with an astonishing request.

"Adrien, your father asks you to come to his office. He would like to speak with you. He specified that he did not want you to wear jewelry because he is in the middle of creating and this could disturb his artistic fiber."

"All right, well... "

The young man waited until Nathalie left the room to turn to Plagg. Plagg just yawned and swallowed a whole piece of camembert.

"Go ahead Adrien, for once your progenitor finally assumes his role as a father... "

The teenager just smiled politely. He gave his ring to the Kwami and told him not to leave the room, then left to join his father.

-XxxX-

Gabriel Agreste hated surprises.

When he watched the videos from the surveillance cameras in his house, it was to see who were the miserable commoners who had dared to enter his majestic property. A party of plebeians in his house? It was simply unconscionable. Adrian had bad company, and this episode only strengthened his belief that this institution was not worthy of welcoming his descendant.

So his dismay was all the greater when he saw the camera in his dining room. There in front of him appeared the image of Cat Noir transformation.

Cat Noir was Adrien.

His son was fighting him.

His blood had the Black Cat's ring.

His body shook all the way. Then he laughed out loud.

**It was perfect.**

He went through all the other surveillance cameras in his house hoping to catch a glimpse of Ladybug's transformation. Alas, he found nothing. However, this would not be a problem, because now that he knew the identity of her loyal servant, reaching this insect would not be too difficult. So, the first thing he did was to call his assistant Nathalie. The young woman was always good advice and indispensable support from the beginning of his mission.

Like him, she was surprised and then very interested in the news. She advised him to wait before going to see Adrien.

The ground had to be prepared.

So the man started by spending more time with him. Then, even though he didn't like it, he agreed to let him go out more. According to Nathalie, in order for his son to agree to work with him, he had to be emotionally removed from the influence of Ladybug.

In other words, his father had to become his number one emotional pillar.

But since his mother's death, Adrien had been more outwardly oriented than his father.

The stylist waited a good month before confronting him. During this time, he had been careful not to give too much power to his victims. After all his precious child was on the battlefield, hurting him was the last thing he wanted.

Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment. Fate finally seemed to be on his side. If all went well, it was only a matter of days, maybe even hours, before his beloved Emilie would be by his side again. His family would be complete again, his son would no longer have to go to that shabby middle school full of good-for-nothings who would end up sweeping the playground anyway.

Toc, Toc, Toc.

The noise brought him back to reality.

"Come in."

"You asked for me, Father?"

"Yes, Adrien. Come and sit-down son, I have something to show you. "

The visibly disturbed young boy obeys his father. He sat in the only chair in the room. The patriarch Agreste then turned his flat screen to his heir.

"You see son, some time ago I discovered an interesting piece of information... I wish to share it with you."

"You do? What is it, father?"

"I'd rather you see it for yourself, only then we'll talk."

"Very well, as you wish. "

He turned on the video. Before his eyes, his son turned pale.

"Father... ...l... I can explain... It's not what you think."

"It's not necessary, Adrien. I know you're Cat Noir."

"Father I-I-I..."

"Let me finish Adrien."

"..."

"I'm proud of you son. "

"R-Really?"

"I am. Besides, I have a secret to tell you too. "

Gabriel then took Adrien to where his mother's body was.

"Mother? What the hell is she doing here? Father, I don't understand! You told me she disappeared! What is Mother doing here?"

"I'm sorry Adrien. Actually your mother isn't dead but in a deep coma... as you can see."

"Why? Why didn't you tell me this? Why show me this now..."

"I think you already know. "

Adrien's eyes were bulging out. He took several steps back.

"No... no... it... it... it's... it's not... You can't... you can't..."

"Yes Adrien., I'm Hawkmoth. "

"... You're... Why are you doing this?"

"So we can be a family again. The miraculous of the Cat and the Ladybug once worn at the same time grants its holder absolute power, including the power to change reality. That means we can heal your mother."

"You're... You're completely crazy..."

"Excuse me!?"

"YOU'RE A MONSTER! "

The teenager runs away from the scene without asking for the rest.

"Adrien! Come back here immediately, do you hear me? ADRIEN!"

-XxxX-

Adrien ran as fast as he could to his room, jostling Nathalie on the way. As soon as he arrived in front of his room, the young man closed the door and barricaded himself. He then turned to his bed where Plagg was probably asleep. And he was not mistaken, Plagg was well and truly plunged into the arms of Morpheus. The blond man took the ring, put it on and transformed himself before fleeing through his bedroom window.

He ran again and again.

Ladybug! He had to find his Lady as soon as possible!

The young mannequin traveled almost all over the city in vain. He couldn't find his sweetheart anywhere. He tried to call her several times, but nothing.

**BOOM!**

A huge crash startled him. Oh, no... Oh, no... He didn't dare to do that, did he? But if there was an Akuma, Ladybug would appear, wouldn't she? Then he'd only have to talk to her then.

It was with hope in his heart that the cat went to the battlefield. However, he hesitated to fight against the new akumatized person... Somehow, he was fighting against his father, wasn't he? Could he really do that? He literally found himself standing there without being able to make a move. Then he witnessed an atrocious scene: a woman who was trying to flee the scene fell to the ground. In the panic, he saw that passers-by were crushing her. He wanted to help her, he really wanted to help her!

However, his legs were paralyzed.

Cat Noir was tetanized.

The cat then looked at the scene, completely helpless.

"Cat Noir! What the hell are you doing?! "

Ladybug made his entrance and rushed to the rescue of the young woman on the ground. When he saw the face of Ladybug, he realized that it was probably too late. The villain took the opportunity to run at her. With all her usual grace, the teenager saw how the love of his life was dodging and counterattacking with all her might.

She was beautiful, graceful, extraordinary. 

"Cat Noir!"

Her voice made him react. He advanced towards the battle zone, but it wasn't really him who was advancing, was it? The young blond boy didn't see what happened anymore. When he came to his senses, Ladybug had her fist out to him. He punched her fist, confused.

"Pound it!"

His Lady then was about to leave, to un-transform, but that's when he remembered. Hawk Moth! His father!

"Ladybug! "

He followed her without thinking. Surprised, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Cat Noir? Something wrong? I saw you... acting strange today, is there something bothering you?"

"Actually, I'm... "

The blond man fell silent. He couldn't finish his sentence. Some kind of ball had formed at the back of his throat.

_If I tell her that I know who Hawk Moth is... I'd have to tell her that I'm Adrien! And then she'll know... She'll know that I'm the son of... I-I... can't! I can't... I can't do that..._

"Cat Noir?"

"I'm... I'm sorry, it's OK... Goodbye, my Lady. "

**Like a coward the cat runs away.**

He transformed and gave cheese to Plagg. Plagg hadn't noticed the condition of his holder at all. The floating cat was enjoying his food with envy. Adrien stared at the Kwami attentively.

_If I tell Plagg... Will he leave? He will have to tell the Guardian... Then I would lose my miraculous... But if I don't say anything, father will take it from me anyway._

Disoriented and lost, the blond boy began to walk around with no real purpose. It was as if his body had adopted a will of its own and the teenager was witnessing his environment without being able to intervene.

"Adrien? "

The aforementioned turned to his voice. His heart missed a beat when he saw who had called out to him.

"Adrien, your driver is waiting for you, please follow me. "

Without even knowing why, the model nodded his head and followed the young woman. They entered the vehicle together.

"Your father says you don't have to answer him now, you can take your time to decide what happens next."

"So you knew about this..."

"That is correct."

The teenager's eyes turned to the car’s window.

He added nothing more.

Plagg was in his pocket and he had no desire to explain anything to him now. They were taken to Agreste Manor. As soon as they arrived, the holder of the cat's miraculous miraculous went to his room and didn't say a word to anyone else.

He didn't come to dinner either.

His Kwami got worried.

"Adrien? Why are you making that face?"

"It's nothing Plagg... I'm just not in very good shape."

"Come, eat some cheese with me and you'll feel better! "

The god of destruction began to juggle pieces of cheese in front of him. As usual, the Kwami wanted to cheer him up by clowning around.

He smiled.

The night passed. It was long and the teenager did not sleep all night. He was afraid that his father would come while he was sleeping to take his ring from him.

Several days went by like that. He didn't eat at home anymore, afraid that someone would put something in his food. The blond boy was not concentrating in class. His Kwami became more and more worried, but each time his answer was the same, that everything was fine. Plagg must not have known.

No one was to know his secret.

After a week, his father summoned him again. This time he renounced Plagg and put the ring in his pocket. No way was he going to leave it in his room where Nathalie or even the Gorilla could take it!

He came out of his room, Nathalie was already waiting for him. Seeing him, she looked down.

**Traitor.**

Like a death row inmate walking to the gallows, the teenager walked towards his father's office. He knocked on the door. His father came personally to greet him.

"Adrien, I've been waiting for you, please take a seat."

The young model obeys.

"I'll get right to the point. I won't ask you to betray Ladybug. But since you don't want to work alongside me, I'll ask you not to interfere either."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't want you to help Ladybug anymore. You're going to get away from her bit by bit."

"I can't do that!"

"You can and you will! Don't you understand that I'm doing all this for us? For your mother!"

"Don't you? And sacrificing Nathalie is also to help us?"

"What was that?"

"If you're Hawkmoth... It's not very difficult to understand who Mayura is. "

The man smiles satisfied.

"You are my son. Indeed, Nathalie is Mayura. But enough chatter, I have another request for you. I don't want you to hang out with Marinette Dupain-Cheng anymore."

"What's up? What does Marinette have to do with this?!"

"This girl is remarkable. You noticed it yourself, didn't you? She's a responsible young person, extremely talented, kind, devoted to her family and friends. I understand that everyone appreciates her... very much. "

Adrien quickly faded away as he realized what his father was getting at.

"No... no, father! Please, I beg you... Not Marinette! She's... She's one of my best friends!"

"Shut up Adrien. Marinette will be my masterpiece and you're going to help me break her."

"I won't do it."

"You have a choice Adrien, either you help me break this girl, or first of all you won't go back into the school, and secondly, I'll take your miraculous here and now. I'm sure the Kwami of destruction once akumatized can wreak colossal havoc."

"You... this is monstrous..."

"I'm doing this for our family Adrien. Only for our family."

"I... don't see how hanging out with Marinette is going to help you in any way, father..."

"Your naivety will lose you Adrien. "

The young man didn't answer anymore.

"One last thing, Adrien. Do you know the identity of the Guardian of the Miraculous?"

"No, Father, I've never seen him."

"Are you making fun of me? How did you get new powers?!"

"It was Ladybug who brought me the power to transform my Kwami. I don't know the recipe or the Guardian. "

"In other words, Ladybug doesn't trust you..."

"... "

"After all you've done for her... Why hasn't she shared her secrets with you? Don't you get it? She doesn't care about you son. You-"

"Stop."

"Adri-"

" **I said stop!** Never...NEVER talk about her as if you knew her! You can akumatize Paris? Big deal... I can _destroy the whole city_ and even the mainland if I want to! That includes **you**... **mother**... _that building you call home and much more_!"

"How dare you... "

Gabriel stopped abruptly when he saw the look in his son's eyes. At that very moment, the stylist understood that he had gone too far. Never before had he seen such a cold look from his heir. He noted mentally that the Ladybug subject was sensitive.

"That's all I had to say to you. Go back to your room, your piano lessons start soon. "

Adrien left the room without waiting for his rest. He locked himself in his room for a while. Unable to hold on any longer and completely in tears, he put his ring back on. Plagg reappeared and immediately became alarmed. The floating cat tried to console him and ask him for explanations, but nothing helped. He could say absolutely nothing to the Kwami.

The next day he went back to school. The young model then discovered his talent as an actor. No one seemed to notice his unhappiness. Even Chloe, his childhood friend, didn't notice anything. To make things worse, Lila was still telling her stories. The day couldn't get any worse. He didn't obey his father's orders and continued to help Ladybug despite everything.

His lady was his only source of comfort for the moment. Her presence alone was enough to make him forget his life, his secret, his very existence.

He also never stopped being friends with Marinette, the young girl was also a source of freshness in his life. She was strong, very generous and kind. In this the eurasian girl was similar to his dear and tender Ladybug.

She is really their little everyday ladybug.

However, he did one thing that the blond boy regretted infinitely later.

He told Marinette not to expose Lila on her return. Not because the Italian didn't deserve it, but because he didn't want to give his father a chance to akumatize her again. Luckily, his friend took his advice.

She really was the best.

He regretted the choice. His father made sure of it.

After a week, something tragic happened. In an Akuma attack, several of his friends were killed... including Nino, Alya... half his class. And Marinette... Oh my God... she was nowhere to be found. The villain used to have fun making statues of people and then destroying them with a giant hammer.

She called herself Medusa.

He'll never forget the words of the villain.

"See what I can do when I'm resisted! Give me your miraculous ones or everyone you love will die! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha."

The blonde understood that this message was meant for him.

That day he understood that his father was serious. That he would seriously kill anyone who got in his way... Including his friends. Fear ripped his stomach apart.

He saw over and over how the statues were breaking into a thousand pieces...

The _miraculous ladybug_ made everything fall back into place as if nothing had happened. But the images associated with that day haunted him for a very long time.

That same evening he cried. 

His father summoned him again.

Once again, he hid his miraculous one.

"I hope this time you understood."

"Yes, father."

"So?"

"I won't help Ladybug anymore."

"What else?"

"Well, I'll... I will no longer be friends with Marinette."

"Excellent. You're dismissed. "

The teenager left the room in tears.

He walked past the secretary without even looking at her.

So the blond boy didn't see how sadly she looked at him.

**His ordeal had only just begun.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That part's one of my favorites so far...
> 
> I've never liked stories where everything is either "white" or "black"... The shades are also really cool...


	12. The Fate of a Black Cat [Part 2]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birth of a new villain. After all, like father, like son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the one I really loved writing. How do you turn a nice guy into a future psychopath?

Gabriel Agreste -no, this guy wasn't his father- forced him to make detailed reports on his friend's condition.

No, he didn't deserve to be called that, he wasn't a "friend".

So he had to update his father about his classmate Marinette. The stylist was determined to break the girl by any means necessary. Even the dirtiest.

And so, the model finally learned that his father had hired Lila to make the young brunette's life hell. He saw how the cheerful Marinette gradually became a shadow of her former self. The others turned their backs on her one after another...

Damn it!

But why couldn't anyone see, that Rossi was just a viper? How could people be so blind?!

_How can you be such a coward... eh, Agreste?_

As for Ladybug... He couldn't bring himself to completely abandon her. Of course, he hardly ever came on the battlefield anymore, but at least once in a while... So that his father wouldn't hold it against him, the teenager gave as an excuse that if he didn't show up at all, the Guardian might have the idea of taking the miraculous from him. Surprisingly, the explanation seemed to satisfy his father, who no longer blamed him for the few times he went out on the field.

It was also bewildered that the boy noticed that Plagg didn't notice anything at all about what was going on... This one... as long as there was cheese, the god of destruction paid no attention to anything.

_If only you had been less selfish... You would have seen that I was acting, right? Maybe you could have stopped the disaster too... Right Plagg?_

Two months went by like this...

where he was performing a play every day.

Where life had no meaning.

Where he just wanted to disappear.

Where he was alone. Oh God... he was so lonely.

Some good things had happened... He kissed his lady... Well, he couldn't remember how or why, but it happened! Oh Ladybug... The only person who could cheer him up just by existing... If he hadn't gone crazy yet it was because she was there. So the boy started to collect more and more pictures of the young heroine. It was a need to see her, to remember that everything would be all right as long as she was there.

**Ladybug would save him, he was convinced.**

Oh... He also found out that his friend Kagami was in love with him apparently... If she knew what a coward, he was...

_Oh, no, baby, you wouldn't love me. You'd be ashamed to know me._

Another month passed.

Slowly. 

The hero Viperion was becoming more and more present on the battlefield. A heroine appeared, a certain Ryuuko. So... Ladybug just replaced him... just like that? She didn't even try to understand why her partner was away from the battlefield... Is that what their friendship was all about?

To make things worse, Plagg was getting restless. The Kwami was beginning to worry about his meager investment.

_After four months... Well done, Plagg!_

The final blow was probably given when Kagami sent him a link. A simple message that worried him: "Tell me you had nothing to do with it".

When he clicked on the link... He felt nauseous. 

_Oh no... no... no... Mari..._

"This is going too far... Much too far... "

He stopped holding on and went to the bathroom to puke. The young model had never felt so miserable... so dirty... so despicable. There were only pictures of Marinette... The poor girl was being harassed. He spent some time in the bathroom before deciding to come back. To his horror his Kwami was in front of the screen. When he saw the Kwami turn towards him, with exorbitant eyes, the blond man understood that Plagg would never see him as before again. Of course, the cat asked for explanations, he would be quite unable to remember the sham excuse given to the Kwami that day.

As he thought... the next day was not so glorious. It was the day of his fencing class, which meant confronting a certain Japanese girl with a fiery temperament.

"Did you see what I sent Adrien?"

"Hello to you too Kagami..."

"Did you know about it or not?"

"No, I didn't know... I didn't know about it."

"I believe you. Now tell me, did you tell Marinette not to expose Rossi?"

"I... yeah."

"Well, why did you tell her not to?"

"I... don't think it's a good idea... I just, uh... She's a liar. She'll get bored."

"So if I have to sum up, you didn't know Marinette was being harassed by your classmates, but you knew Lila Rossi was lying and you kept quiet. right?"

"That's right, I did."

"It was stupid advice, but I can understand why you told her to keep her mouth shut. You don't like conflict. So, are you ready for a change?"

"H-How so?"

"Marinette got kicked out of college. Apparently, it wouldn't be the first time."

"Mari got expelled again? Why?"

"She allegedly pushed Rossi off the stairs. "

"Marinette would never do that!"

"No, she wouldn't. Will you help me prove Marinette's innocence? "

_Of course I want to help her... She doesn't deserve what's happening to her..._

The blond boy sincerely wanted to help the French-Chinese girl. He loved his friend very much. But if he helped her then...

His heart shrank.

_Forgive me, Mari..._

"Why are you so eager to help Marinette? I didn't even know you two were friends..."

"She was getting mugged by students on the street. My car was passing by and I saw her. Mother and I had to take her to the hospital."

"W-WHAT?! When did she go to the hospital?"

"Three months ago. "

Adrien was speechless. It was completely insane! He wanted to cry...

"I won't help you."

"Excuse me?"

"I won't help you!"

With those words the teenager left as quickly as possible to go change.

Kagami never spoke to him again.

Another month passed.

Just as slowly. 

His kwami was getting more and more crowded.

His father too...

He still didn't understand why Marinette hadn't cracked yet. Neither did he... It was another proof of how extraordinary this girl was. Probably as extraordinary as his Lady. This beautiful, wonderful girl who could fight the akumas alone. A true goddess. 

That day finally came: Plagg discovered the truth.

How did he find out?

Simple: Adrien cracked.

The pressure was so intense, that at the Kwami's insistence, all he could do was collapse and cry. Over and over again. He confessed everything in one fell swoop. The Kwami was speechless for several minutes.

"No way... Oh shit... I mean... Adrien, I'm so sorry! "

The Kwami collapsed to his cheek and apologized again and again.

"Adrien this is serious! You absolutely have to go see the Guardian!"

"No! If we go, see him... Father will know immediately!"

"We have to act Adrien! Before-"

"Oh a visit to the Guardian, I'd like to come with you. "

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became heavy. The Kwami immediately placed himself in front of his protégé.

"I'm glad to see you lied to me Adrien. So you did know the Guardian."

"Father..."

"Where does he live?"

"I-I don't know..."

"Adrien, answer me!"

"He's telling the truth _Gabi-shit_ only Ladybug knows the Guardian's address."

"Silence. I didn't give you permission to speak. "

"I'm not as nice as Nooru Mister "I'm superior to everyone because I know how to use a needle". I wouldn't mind using my powers to protect my kitten. "

The stylist, did not let himself be impressed at all. He turned to Adrien.

"Mayura is creating a sentimonster right now. It's said that giving life to a cardinal sin makes it invincible."

" **WHAT?!** Are you out of your mind?! The last idiot to create a monster based on a cardinal sin, gave birth to Feast!"

"F-Feast?"

"A sentimental monster son, who's insatiable. He represents the sin of gluttony. A very beautiful piece of work if you ask me... What a pity that this monster has disappeared. "

Adrian was trembling all along. He was terrified of his own father.

"CATACLYSM! "

At that very moment, the only two humans in the room froze. Their gaze turned to the Kwami.

"I will say this only once. **Get out of my way."**

The man immediately left the room.

"P-Plagg... !"

"Transform now! Then go, find Ladybug and tell her the truth, together you can beat this guy! "

Adrien had heard perfectly what the Kwami had just told him, but the fear that gnawed at him was so great, that moving had become impossible for him.

"Adrien! Quickly you must g-"

"PLAGG WATCH OUT! "

Without the poor boy having the opportunity to react, a purple butterfly entered the body of his cat friend. The Kwami began to scream and struggle. The blond watched the scene, helpless.

"Father! Stop it! Stop it! I beg you to stop!" 

Alas, the Kwami was finally swallowed up by a violent mist. Surprisingly he didn't change his appearance, but his eyes became completely empty. From his mouth he heard his father's voice.

**" _Change yourself Adrien. You'll do exactly as I tell you, otherwise... You know what will happen to your friends. Starting with Dupain-Cheng. "_ **

The blond boy obeys.

From that moment on, he didn't remember a thing.

-XxxX-

**A month later.**

Adrien woke up in the hospital. According to a doctor, the teenager was in a coma for a whole month. The first thing the boy noticed was that his ring was missing.

Tears ran down his cheeks in abundance.

His father had taken his friend away from him...

His best friend.

Nathalie came to see him at his bedside. The boy ignored her completely. He learned from the newspapers what had happened that evening: the disappearance of Ladybug and later the death of the Dupain-Cheng family...

The nurses had to anesthetize him to keep him quiet.

The following days were the worst of his life. The boy blamed himself for the death of Marinette's family.

The guilt was eating away at his guts, he only wished for one thing... **to disappear.**

He was angry at his father, at Nathalie, at himself...

In passing, he refused to see his progenitor and exploded with anger as soon as he or Nathalie had the misfortune to enter the room.

The tranquilizer became his second-best friend.

**He was just thrilled.**

The stylist, as usual, had ignored his son's requests. He entered the room as if it were his domain.

Many must have thought that he had come to check on his son, or to apologize to him?

No, no, the gentleman had come to tell him that he would be leaving the hospital soon because he had photo shoots.

Photo shoots, he said.

Just that.

"Out. Fuck off."

"What did you say?!"

"Get the fuck out of my room! I'm not posing for you, now or ever!"

"Adrien, stop being childish! I'm your father and-"

"No, what you are is a murderer."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're a monster! You're a killer! You're a piece of shit! A murderer! AN ASSASSIN! I HATE YOU; DO YOU HEAR ME? **I HATE YOU**! "

After this episode, Gabriel Agreste didn't come to see him anymore. 

_If I could drink a beer to celebrate that..._

This rage only grew worse as Lila's interview began to play on a loop on television.

**_Oh, dear... It was noise and visual pollution._ **

He stopped watching television.

His "friends" Nino and Alya came to visit him.

The problem was that they could no longer walk around without their guru. And this pain in the ass named Lila.

She talked... and talked... and talked... and talked... And the two fools drank her words as if it were the holy gospel.

The blond guy ended up trying to change the subject because he wasn't interested in the Italian liar's life.

Had she always been so self-centred? How had he put up with her already? Had he really given up Marinette **for that**?

Speaking of the sweet eurasian girl...

"So... Where is Marinette? "

To this question the former Miraculous Bearer watched with satisfaction as Nino and Alya's face decomposed. Lila's face, on the other hand, darkened.

Oh... Something the Italian bitch didn't like...

**PERFECT.**

"I'm sorry bro, but Marinette disappeared in the attack a month ago... Nobody ever saw her again and then... hmm... The thing about Marinette is..."

"What Nino is trying to tell you is that the police suspect Marinette to work with Hawk Moth... And..."

"Wait a second... What do you mean Marinette helped Hawk Moth?! "

Those words were a bloodcurdling experience for him.

They weren't serious, were they?

It was a very bad joke.

To make things worse, the other slut spoke up.

"Oh Adrien... Didn't you know? Marinette was... mean... She was... "

Alya approached her and put an arm on her shoulders as a sign of support.

The Italian girl started to cry.

The blond felt his jaw drop.

She had dared...that... bitch...had dared to lie about Marinette?

Mari was the victim of Hawk Moth! Why did this...

OH...

A memory came to his mind.

_Lila works for my father._

Seeing the Italian girl crying. All the anger and rage he kept inside turned to hate. A powerful feeling that burned in his veins and ran through his whole body.

"Get out of here."

"Bro? What's wrong? You want me to-"

"No, I just don't want to see you anymore."

"I just don't want to see you anymore. Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Alya... Honey, we should..."

"I-it's my fault this... Y-You may not like that I-"

"Lila... **Shut the fuck up.** I don't care about your fictional life. I don't want to see you anymore. Not you, not your Chihuahuas. **Just get out.** "

Adrien's voice was unrecognizable. He himself was surprised by the cold, piercing voice he used to say these words. No doubt in shock, the three left the room without a word.

**FINALLY** some rest.

Adrien Agreste made a decision that day.

He would never again be nobody's puppet.

**Nice Adrien Agreste was over.**

At the first opportunity, as soon as he regained some strength, he ran away from the hospital.

Began for the boy several nights wandering the streets of Paris. It was difficult, but he managed to survive somehow. It was always better for him than living under the same roof with his progenitor and his servant.

One evening, as he had taken refuge in an alleyway to get food from a dumpster, he saw a silhouette go over his head. The blond man hoped it was Ladybug, so he began to follow the person who was jumping from roof to roof so nimbly.

Unfortunately it wasn't his lady, but a thief. And she was... cosplayed in Cat Noir?

The woman broke into a jewelry store. He watched in absolute silence.

A police car drove by. Witnessed the poor cop attempt to stop the thief while calling for backup. At that very moment, Adrien himself didn't understand why, but... He picked up a paving stone that was on the ground and approached slowly. Before the policeman realized what was happening to him, he was knocked unconscious.

The woman looked at him in amazement.

The siren sounds were echoing in the distance.

"<Hey kid! Follow me!>"

The woman spoke English? It didn't matter! He followed her.

It was the best decision he'd made in the last few months.

**Maybe even in his whole life.**

**Back to the present.**

Their flight to Germany was leaving soon.

For the occasion, the young man had changed his appearance. He still had his beautiful wheat hair, but now he was not at all neat and tidy like before. It made him look a little wild. His eyes, once emerald, were now brown, thanks to contact lenses. A V-neck T-shirt with the image of Jagged Stone, a black leather coat of arms adorned his upper body. The bottom of his body was dressed in a pair of jeans pants that were torn in places. Finally, black high-top sneakers completed his look.

The blond man was looking out the window of the plane...

From his seat he could see the plane's wings. A quick glance to his left revealed that his adoptive mother was absent-mindedly leafing through a tourist guide.

The young man smiled.

Their harvest had brought in a lot of money. They both had enough to live on for several years...

Adrien... No, Felix, loved that life.

Nothing was more rewarding than taking from others what they had most precious. In the end, he had a lot in common with his progenitor.

PAF.

A little girl had just dropped her stuffed cat. At the sight of the child and her toy...

The young boy's heart missed a beat.

A painful memory came back to him...

When he was still living recklessly, with his feline companion at his side.

Would he ever see Plagg again?

Nothing was less certain.

The only thing that was true now was that he could no longer be a hero. And strangely enough, he was no longer bothered by the idea.

**_When you can't be a hero... there's nothing stopping you from becoming a villain. Isn't that right, father? How do you say it again? Ah yes! Like father, like son..._ **


	13. Taking stock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman has a thought for Jason. Catwoman's on her way to Gotham. And Jason, realizing the weight now resting on his shoulders...

**The beginning of the story takes place 2 months after the end of chapter 8.**

Bruce was staring at his screen intently, his face deep.

For a few months now, the crime rate had been rising dramatically in the East End. This was the area that had been devastated and had since been rebuilt.

It was, first and foremost, Red Hood territory. He had not shown his nose for several months now. Since that famous video that Tim had sent them.

His disappearance did not go unnoticed.

Soon, rumors began to circulate that Red Hood had died in the disaster.

Since then, the area had become a battlefield. It was a turf war between the gangs over who would succeed Red Hood.

Bruce and Damian were doing their best to calm the spirits. The trouble was that there were other criminals, who took advantage of the situation to cause chaos elsewhere, knowing that Batman was busy with the East End.

The Dark Knight had finally called for backup... So Red Robin, Black Bat and Batgirl joined him on the battlefield...

It was a very painful situation.

Also, Bruce started looking for Jason.

He wasn't worried about him at all. He was just sick and tired of his own neglect! He wanted to play the little street gangster? That was his problem. The least he could do was do his job properly.

It took a little time, but Bruce finally managed to track Jason down. First in New York, then Los Angeles.

He was intrigued by what he saw.

**Jason was accompanied by a little girl.**

He could not clearly identify the girl, but Bruce saw that she had dark hair. He immediately thought of this strange meeting that Dick and Damian had made some time before. If memory did not fail him, the girl they had met had blue eyes.

What was this girl doing with Jason? What was he planning to do with such a dangerous meta-human? Assuming this girl was a meta-human and not something else...

If this girl was the cause of the East End disaster, why would Jason let her destroy his own territory?

**A dark-blue-heared girl with blue eyes.**

He looked again at the surveillance tapes he'd found.

It was clear to Bruce that there was a real complicity between them. He felt like a brother and sister enjoying a family outing.

If the idea didn't seem completely absurd to him, Bruce would swear that Jason had adopted this girl.

It wasn't like him at all.

Anyway...

Jason was unpredictable.

**Six months later.**

The East End was now completely restored. The crime rate also dropped, although it was still one of the most dangerous areas in Gotham.

With the "disappearance" of Red Hood (Bruce was sure Jason was alive somewhere), it was Red Robin who succeeded him. Bruce had to admit that his young protégé was doing a great job in this area.

However, Bruce could not prevent himself from having from time to time a thought for Jason. It was not in his habit to disappear for so long. More importantly, by keeping such a low profile.

The vigilante was no fool. If Jason had been hiding for so long, it was clearly because he was hiding something. He hadn't forgotten those surveillance tapes with the girl.

Later, while on patrol, he came across a figure he hadn't seen in a very long time.

**Catwoman had returned to Gotham...**

Batman chooses to watch the situation, lurking in the shadows...

Selina was perched on top of a building and seemed to be watching something closely. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm sounded... A jewelry store was being robbed, and Catwoman was obviously spying on the thief.

She smiles.

This simple gesture gave him a chill. Selina was up to something. Seeing the feline moving away, he chose to follow her closely. Then, suddenly, she was joined by someone.

It was a teenager, no taller than Damian. He was blond. His hair was tied up in a ponytail. What struck him immediately was that the kid was also dressed in a cat-themed outfit. He was wearing a Japanese cat mask. The rest of his clothes were completely black.

**Swiper**.

Batman had heard rumors that Catwoman now had a partner in crime... He was far from suspecting that the famous sidekick in question was actually a kid Damian's age.

What could Selina have been thinking?

The young woman passed a loving hand over the teenager's hair. The kid laughed softly.

"Well done, _Sweety_."

"Thank you... But frankly, it was too easy Cat... Don't you have a test with a real challenge?"

"Don't be so impatient kitten, one thing at a time. In the meantime, I want you to go home without me. I've got a bat to tame."

Selina said her words as she turned her head to Batman...

And that's when the kid noticed him in turn.

"OMG! Is that Batman?! He's even scarier in person!"

"Swiper, go home. **Now.** "

"Okay, but I want an autograph."

On those words, the kid runs away.

Selina walked towards him.

"Selina, who is this boy? Why is he with you?"

"Good evening to you too, as it's been a long time. Yes, I've missed you a lot too."

"Answer me."

"It's my son."

"..."

She approached him until she touched his chest with her hands. Then she handed him a small bag.

"Hold it. You can keep them if you want."

"Selina, what are you playing?"

"It was just an exercise. Children have to learn, nothing better than practical work. You have your little birds. I have my kitten. Now if you'll excuse me, I can't leave the kid alone for too long, he's the type to do stupid things."

Then she walked away as if nothing had happened. Batman chose not to follow her since she had returned what she had taken. Nevertheless, the Dark Knight now knew he would have to keep an eye on Selina and the boy.

He had a very bad feeling about him.

-XxxX-

Adrien, a.k.a. "Felix," was pretty proud of him.

It was the first time Selina let him fly solo. In his humble opinion, he had done very well.

He had even managed to keep some jewels, which he was going to be able to offer to the friends of his adoptive "mother".

He hadn't given all the jewelry he had stolen to Selina. The charming thief had understood that. That's probably why she had stayed to chat with Batman. Probably so the man wouldn't look too closely at what had been stolen.

And with a bit of luck, he'll be too focused on checking out Selina to make an inventory of the stolen items...

The blond man entered the apartment through the window. A voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Who's there?!"

"Hey, Harley! It's just me."

"Oh? Sweety... Well? What's up? I want to hear all about it! How was your first solo ride? How was it? Tell me EVERYTHING!"

"It's child's play."

"I KNEW IT!"

"I even brought you a present..."

"REALLY?! YOU'RE A SWEETHEART!"

The blonde jumped on his neck. The teenager laughed heartily. Then he gave her his present.

It was a beautiful diamond necklace.

Harley jumped out of the room with his gift in her hands.

Adrian changed and went to join her in the living room. When he arrived, Harley was strutting in front of Pamela with the necklace around her neck.

The redhead noticed him immediately.

"Good evening, Felix. Harley said you had something for me?"

"Yes, I do."

The blond boy handed her a brooch. The jewel consisted of three cut stones. A ruby cut in the shape of a rose, and two small emeralds to form the leaves.

Pamela took the jewel in her hand, examining it from all angles.

"I see you still have great taste, Felix."

"When I saw it... I knew it was made for you. Even though, next to your beauty, this jewel looks very pale..."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, kid."

"Ouch…"

“Felix” took a dramatic pose, putting his hand over his heart and pretending to be hurt. Harley laughed out loud. And the beautiful Pamela smiled slightly.

It was amazing how time can change a person…

Only a few months ago, “Adrien” was a poor, naive, son-of-a-daddy kid.

**But it was all over.**

He was Felix.

Felix was blond, with black highlights. His hair was long, tied up in a ponytail (or in a pigtail when Harley decided to do his hair). He wore torn jeans in several places. His top was a Jagged Stone T-shirt. These were not haute-couture clothes, nor were they “designer” clothes.

Gabriel would never have allowed his son “Adrien” to wear that kind of clothing. But hey…

**Adrien Agreste was dead.**

It was Felix Kyle who took his place.

The name wasn’t chosen at random. Adrien had chosen the name in honor of a deceased cousin. The “real” Felix was an arrogant and very selfish person. A bit like Chloe, but a thousand times smarter and worse.

Why did he choose that name in this case?

It was just a way for him to remember his roots. So he’d never forget that deep down he was a bad person. That he caused the death of the only person in the world who was truly his friend.

At first he had thought of calling himself “Martin”, or “Marin”, maybe “Mariano”. But he soon changed his mind.

**He was not allowed to use _her_ first name. **

He abandoned her…

“Felix” was an injury.

A guilt he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

Today, “Felix” was a seasoned thief. Whose best friends were two wanted criminals.

And thanks to these girls… his two new friends and his “mother”…

**He was soon going to give that bastard Gabriel Agreste a run for his money.**

-XxxX-

Small island lost somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

"Is it really... a spaceship?"

"Yep."

"Wow..."

Marinette watched the ship completely hypnotized by it. It was extremely impressive. Jason showed her around the ship. Since the owner of the place - Kori for those who knew her - had left, Jason had taken the liberty of redecorating the place a bit.

"We're going to stay here for a while. No one will come looking for us on this island."

"What are we going to do?"

"For now, we'll rest. Then it's simple. You'll practice with the arsenal here. You've assimilated most of the Earth's knowledge, now we'll have to move on to alien knowledge."

Marinette took advantage of the fact that there was no one around to free all the Kwamis from their jewels. Most of them took the opportunity to visit the island. Marinette followed them. A certain floating turtle, on the other hand, decided to stay to observe the ship more closely.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a Tamaran ship..."

"You know about the Tamaran, little turtle?"

"Indeed, we Kwamis have existed since long before your planet was created. Otherwise I am Wayzz, Kwami of Protection."

"Jason Todd."

"Pleased to meet you, Master Jason."

Jason looked at the little floating animal for a moment. For some reason, the little creature reminded him of Alfred.

"If I may say so, you don't look like a Tamaran. How is it that you have such a device in your possession?"

"It originally belonged to a Tamaran friend of mine. She left Earth some time ago, and I've been coming back here regularly ever since."

"I see..."

A moment of silence settled in before the Kwami of Protection took the floor again.

"You've had a lot of terrible loss in your life... it's weighing on your aura."

Jason didn't answer.

"Plagg told us that you were training Master Marinette."

"Mm-hmm."

"Well, that's very nice. Thank you."

"I'm sensing a "but"."

"Well, not exactly. First of all, allow me to apologize on Plagg's behalf. He's just worried about the young Mistress."

"Mmm."

"That being said, there is indeed something I must inform you of. Something Marinette doesn't know. That my brothers and sisters don't know either."

The dark-haired this time turned his head to look the little creature straight in the eye.

"You see Master Jason, the former Master of Miraculous, the one who practiced before Marinette, he was murdered, but not by Hawk Moth. Someone else is responsible."

Jason frowned.

"The truth is... Master Fu was a child when he became a guardian. Unfortunately, not all his choices were the wisest. His naivety led him to trust the wrong people."

This story smelled really bad.

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because I know you're connected to this man. Because of your aura."

"I don't have patience for riddles, mini turtle. What do you want from me?"

"Ra's Al Ghul."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"This man has been persecuting the guardians for a very long time. When he was a child, the old master was taken in by this man for a time. Ra's seemed loving at first, but the Master soon realized he was a bad person. Alas, the damage was done. This monster stalked the Master relentlessly. Plagg had implied that you knew him."

"Somehow. I know much more about his daughter, Talia."

"Mmm."

"I take it it. It was Ra's Al Ghul who killed your master?"

"Indirectly, yes. He paid a man. A man named Deathstroke. When the master realized he didn't stand a chance, he knew something had to be done, and fast... He gathered all the jewels in a bag he gave me. He then waived his right to be the guardian and made Marinette the next guardian. But you see... When a guardian gives up his role, he immediately loses his memory."

"…"

"I didn't see... what happened next... I... I went to look for Marinette but... Well, you know the story.

"Yeah... I do."

Jason had his brain working at full speed.

That meant Marinette was in a lot more danger than he had previously thought. The old Robin felt a cold sweat running through his entire body. If Deathstroke somehow knew that Marinette was the old Ladybug...

Jason was about to question the turtle further, but the turtle had already disappeared. He saw the Kwami chatting with a little pig and a little rooster.

Suddenly, the young man felt as if a weight had just fallen on him. He quickly understood why the turtle had said these words to him.

It was an indirect request for protection.

More than ever, Marinette needed to learn how to defend herself.

**It was time to call for help.**


	14. The angry baby bird appears in the picture!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain birdie is leading an investigation. The time of THE meeting is fast approaching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- The first part of the fic was mainly devoted to the relationship between Jason and Marinette. 
> 
> \- Damian just turned 14 at the beginning of this chapter. Keep that in mind. I'll try to stick as much as possible to his character developed in comics.
> 
> \- When you see this "<...>" in a dialogue, it means that this one is in another language than English. In this case, it will be the Spanish language.

Robin liked to think he was in control of his life and his choices. He was efficient, smart, well-trained.

He was by far the best Robin.

The fact that Batman gave him a dangerous mission involving human trafficking was just a given.

Robin had spent an enormous amount of time on this mission... doing a lot of research, interviewing a lot of criminals... Through his hard work, he managed to discover that a shipment was expected, coming from Mexico.

If he was able to intercept this "cargo", he could interrogate the traffickers. Once this step is over, it would be child's play to go back up the chain.

He should have known something was wrong. His father never let him handle cases like this alone. The teenager should have known something was up!

"Little D., don't make that face..."

"Shut up, Grayson. You don't belong here, go home! I don't need your help!"

"No names on the field, Little D. I don't doubt that, Robin. If you want, I'll stand here and watch you..."

" **TT**."

There were already men at the port.

Then they waited.

The time for delivery arrived. No ships on the horizon.

So they waited again.

An hour passed.

Then two.

The men in the harbor began to stir.

They waited again.

**Nothing.**

The men at the harbor began to call their contact in anger. Apparently, he didn't answer them.

"What the hell is this shit?! They're already almost four hours late! We're going to have to leave soon."

Finally, one of them managed to communicate with someone. When the call was over, the one who was obviously the leader of the group was irritated.

"The boss told us to go home."

"Huh? Huh?! We've been sitting here for nothing?! What the hell's going on here? Where's the damn customer?"

"He's dead."

"What the fuck?!"

"According to the boss, the suppliers have been shot."

"All of 'em?"

"Yeah, all of them."

"By who?"

"I don't know, asshole. Shut the fuck up and get your shit together. Guys let's go!"

Robin, who'd been listening in on the whole conversation, was more than a little irritated. What the hell was that all about? He didn't do all this work for nothing!

"Robin, we should follow them so they'll make us..."

The teenager didn't listen to his elder. He went after the men. There was no way that all his work was in vain. These guys were going to tell him who their hump was and who this mystery supplier was.

"Are you serious? Get back here! ROBIN!"

**Two days later, Mexico.**

Dick and Damian were walking in the middle of a circus not far from the US border.

After Damian's tough interrogation (and Dick had reprimanded him for it), they found out that the shipment had to come from this town, and more precisely from this circus. Indeed, this circus was supposed to be used as bait for future victims.

Their investigation was not easy.

No one wanted to talk.

Once they managed to get into the police station handling the case, Dick understood why everyone was afraid to testify.

Nightwing and Robin had managed to retrieve photos and reports from the police investigating the death of the traffickers.

Seeing the "crime scene" photos, Nightwing felt a chill.

Many of the men had been riddled with bullets, those were dead because of their injuries. But there were other men...

And they... had been... _dismembered_.

These photos showed the result of a fight of unheard-of violence. To get the result that he saw in these pictures, Dick knew that the assailant had phenomenal strength.

**And a completely twisted mind.**

He and Robin returned to the circus.

Through charm and persuasion, he managed to get a description of who had arrested the traffickers.

Dick decided it would be easier to do a separate investigation. He sent Damian to the scene where the bodies had been found. There might be clues that the police hadn't seen.

For his part, he would go where he thought it was easiest to find information.

He would go into the only bar in the area.

The dark-haired started by ordering a drink. Then he talked to a few people at the counter.

"<Why do you want to know that?>"

"<I'm curious. I mean, it takes a hell of a lot of strength to destroy an army in one night...>"

"<Well, that... There were just two of them.>"

"<Really?! That's impressive.>"

"<Isn't it? It was, like, an older brother and his little sister... They avenged my little girl...>"

"<Something happen to your daughter?>"

"<Those savages shot her... My poor little Margarita... She was only ten years old you know...>"

"< I'm sorry...>"

"< Don't worry kid, I told you... She's been avenged! >"

"<The police might arrest them, right?>"

"<Oh, you know... On the contrary, I hope they'll never be arrested...>"

"<Really? Why not?>"

"<You're not from around here, kid... But believe me, those people deserved what they got. For years those monsters have been stealing from us, abusing our wives and daughters... Everyone here is grateful to them. No one will denounce them, they're heroes! And you know, the police won't make much of an effort to find them either... It suits them too that these people are dead... >"

"<Yes... I guess so.>"

Dick, after talking with a few people, finally gets what he wanted: a description of the murder duo.

The man was tall, with red hair and green eyes. He called himself "Juan". He was in his early 20s. His little sister had short hair, brunette with flashy blue highlights. Pretty short, very athletic. She would've been about 12 or 13 years old. She called herself "Catarina".

However, a detail caught his attention in the description these men -completely drunken- gave. One of them mentioned that the man was wearing a red helmet.

A shiver ran through his whole body.

He knew someone who used a red helmet, who used guns and had violent tendencies. The physical description didn't fit, but only if you take into account the color of the hair and eyes. However, Dick knew full well that tint and contact lenses existed.

At the end of the evening, he left to join Damian.

Damian informed him that he had found two more bodies further down the river.

"I also found strands of black hair with some blue paint on it. It was hanging on some branches not far from one of the bodies. The hairs don't have roots, so we can't do a DNA test with it..."

"Hair with blue paint on it... it's got to be the girl's hair..."

Dick quickly told Damian about his discovery.

"Tt, if these people are telling the truth, then it would be the girl who took care of the traffickers and Todd of the shipment."

"There's no guarantee it was him, Robin..."

"You're kidding yourself, Nightwing."

Dick chooses to remain silent.

He was worried.

Was Jason really behind this? After all this time without a word, he shows up again just to cause bloodshed?

Why was he traveling with a little girl?

He couldn't help but remember that video where Jason had been captured by men and then presumably rescued by someone wearing a cat hood.

If this hooded person was this little girl...

It meant that Jason was walking around with a murderer...

Or worse... Jason might have been training a kid to kill...

_Jason... What the hell is going through your head?_

**A few days later.**

Roy was packing some stuff in a bag.

Jason had reconnected with him, wanted them to work together again. He had also mentioned a "partner".

It had titillated his curiosity.

Had Jaybird finally found the right shoe?

Suddenly he felt a shiver run down his whole body. Roy suddenly turned around and realized he was not alone. The redhead felt his whole body tighten suddenly.

"Good evening Roy, I hope we're not disturbing you."

"Di-, Nightwing... it's been a long time. You look fine to me."

"TT, enough with the worldliness Harper, where's Todd?"

Roy frowned. The kid walked up to him clearly angry.

"No need to look at us with that illiterate gorilla face. We know you lied to Drake about that traitor Todd. So, where is he?"

"Wait, what? I lied? What the hell are you talking about, brat?!"

"Robin! Sorry Roy, he's a bit on edge at the moment."

"I'm just not-"

"So... Have you by any chance come in contact with Jason recently?"

"... Mmm... Well, I mean, I..."

"Spit it out!"

"ROBIN!"

"TT."

Roy was feeling a bit awkward. He'd promised Jason he wouldn't reveal his location. However, on the other hand, he couldn't lie to two members of the Batman tribe. These guys had a lie detector built into their genes...

"MM-HMM... Why did the kid say I lied? Lying about what?"

"I'm not a kid!"

"Yeah, of course, _kid_."

Before the brat put one in, Dick took the floor.

"Tim called you about Jason a while back, right?"

"Yep. He wanted to know if I'd seen Jason."

"And you told him you hadn't spoken to him in a while."

"I haven't."

"Why didn't you tell Tim that Jason contacted you?"

Roy figured out what Dick was getting at.

So the guys went so far as to trace Jason's calls... He was wondering what Jay did to get himself chased away again by the Batman cronies.

"Look, Jay contacted me, yeah, but long after Tim called me... Like a week or two later."

"Oh..."

"And no, I didn't call Tim back because Jay refused. He said he wanted to change his tune. And that he wanted to get as far away from you guys as possible..."

Roy would almost feel nervous having two sets of eyes staring at him. The two vigilantes were clearly "analyzing" him to see if he was telling the truth or not. However, the redhead had to find a way to get these two out of there as quickly as possible. Jason would soon be coming to get him...

He had no desire to get caught in the crossfire.

The last thing he wanted was for his best friend to think he had betrayed him.

"Has Jason contacted you since?"

"Before I answer that question, I want to know what you want from him."

"It's none of your business, Harper."

"You barge into my house uninvited, to interrogate my best friend. So, yeah, I guess that's my business, birdie."

"TT, we're wasting time. Where's Todd?"

Before Roy could say anything back, he heard the doorbell in his apartment.

_OH, SHIT!_

"Roy, I know you're in there, open the fucking door!"

There was a sudden silence in the room.

God, Jason had a knack for bad timing!

"What the hell took you so long to..."

Jason stopped in the middle of his sentence when he saw the two visitors in the living room.

His gaze turned back to Roy.

He immediately raised his hands.

"I swear I didn't know! They came here without warning..."

Jason sighed.

"Little wing, you-"

"Todd, we all knew you were a whack job, but it looks like you found someone more psychotic than you."

"Robin, stop being nasty to everyone!"

Much to Roy's surprise, Jason says nothing. But from his posture alone, the redhead knew his best friend was uptight. He decided to intervene.

"I didn't really understand why, but apparently, they've been looking for you for a while."

Jason looked at him, then turned again to the other two vigilantes in the room.

"I'm here. What do you want?"

"There's been a massacre on the border between Mexico and Texas. We know it was you and your partner who did it!"

"..."

The dark-haired was strangely silent for several minutes.

"Jay you-"

"Yes, I butchered them and then what? They were traffickers. I don't see why you're here to piss me off about something that happened in another country."

Jason said those words in an extremely cold, detached voice.

"Jason, this is against the code. Our code. You'd stopped killing. What happened?"

"It's your code, not mine."

"Jay... I'm really trying to understand why you did this. Why did you do it? Besides... Who's that girl with you? One of the circus trainers said she's your sister... Is it... is it true?"

"Wait, what? Jaybird, you have a sister and you didn't tell me?!"

"Roy, let's get out of here."

Jason pulled Roy's arm pretty hard. Roy took his bag quietly to follow his friend.

"Little wing, wait! You-"

"You wanted to know if it was me who took out those guys? The answer's yes. As for the rest, you can go to hell."

The former Robin left the room in a huff. Roy followed him closely.

They left behind a Nightwing frustrated by his brother's attitude, and a Robin furious because he hadn't gotten an answer.

-XxxX-

The return to the Manor was silent.

Nightwing reported back to Batman.

The only thing his father did was sigh.

"Well, then, the case is closed."

"What? That's it? What about Todd? You're going to let him walk free after what he did?!"

"There's no evidence that he did it."

"Of course there is! He admitted it!"

"Mmm."

Damian was furious.

Grayson, on the other hand, seemed rather pensive.

"B. You don't think Jason did it, do you?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm... I'm not sure. Jason can be violent, but it didn't seem like something he would do... When we talked to him, he was really defensive, until we told him about the massacre. It almost sounded like he was surprised."

"Surprised, huh..."

"I mean, that's ridiculous. It doesn't matter if it was him or the other crazy lunatic who did it. They're dangerous. They have to be stopped!"

Batman's not talking. He simply turned to his computer and continued working.

When he was silent, Grayson sighed and went to change his clothes.

Damian refused to give up.

**If his father didn't want to act, then he would!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I really had a lot of work to do for my college. 
> 
> Well? How do you think the meeting between Damian and Marinette will go?


	15. Scarlet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy's a brat. Marinette finally has her own code name. And the trouble starts soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- This chapter will largely refer to the Red Hood/Arsenal issue #2 comic.  
> If you haven't read that comic, I suggest you read that chapter for yourself, otherwise you might be a little lost, or at least you might not understand all the references.  
> \- When you see <...> in a dialogue, it means that the language spoken is other than English. In this case, it is French.

"Okay... So let me get this straight: you took in an orphan girl who turns out to be an awkward witness in a terrorist case involving the deaths of thousands of people in Paris. The only credible witness, by the way. And instead of turning her over to the police, you chose to give her a gun and teach her the mercenary job? And you want me to teach her how to create weapons and use alien technology?"

"Why do I feel judged?"

"Dude... I can't tell you what shocks me more. The fact that you're picking up a bluenette _kid with blue eyes_ or that you're taking care of her like a _sugar daddy_? By the way, is hair color a recruiting criterion?"

"As I recall, your jokes were better."

"My jokes are hilarious, Jaybird. You, on the other hand, have lost your sense of humor."

"What can I say... _fatherhood_ is starting to give me white hair."

Roy couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was amazing how much he missed those moments.

"Tell me about your famous _little sister_."

"Not much to tell."

"Come on, man, that kid's got to be more than good for you to bother babysitting her."

"She's not “good”, Roy."

"Seriously?"

" **She's a _genius_**. Both in a good and bad way."

"That good?"

"Five months of training. That's all it took her to master all of Robin's training, the All Caste training and part of the League of Shadows training. Roy, she's almost as agile as Dick... Her physical abilities are far superior to that of a normal human... Her intellectual abilities are above average. In addition to French, she learned the entire English grammar in less than a month. She is now fluent in Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese, Portuguese and Japanese. She has a solid foundation in Italian, German and Arabic. She speaks Russian better than I do!"

"…"

"I taught her everything I know about guns, explosives, mechanics... she mastered it all. **In five _fucking_ months**."

"Yeah. It's almost terrifying. Are you sure that kid's human?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm-Mmmmmmm... Are you sure it's a good idea to teach her how to use this tech? I mean, if she's got that much potential, aren't you afraid she's gonna _betray_ _you_ someday?"

"She's got Deathstroke and the League of Shadows after her. Not to mention the terrorist in Paris looking for her."

"WHAT?!"

"Exactly."

"And you left that kid all alone on an island?!"

"Yep."

"…"

"Otherwise, just to answer you. She'll never betray me; you can sleep soundly."

Roy knew that. Jason was hiding something from him. There was one more secret his best friend hadn't shared with him.

So many people chasing _one witness_ , it seemed unusual.

He should have asked for the details before he agreed.

What the hell did he get himself into?

**Two months later.**

"This is a bad idea."

"Shhh! Take it easy, _Mari Cutie_ , everything's gonna be okay!"

"I don't want to be punished because of you..."

"Don't worry, hon!"

Jason was in the shower. And he, Roy Harper had just finished creating a flame thrower. He had to test it, and who better than Jason to be a guinea pig?

"I refuse to be part of your nonsense Roy."

Boy, sometimes that little girl can be too serious...

**FWOOOOSHHHH.**

"DAMN IT, ROY! WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT AGAIN?!"

It was official, Roy Harper was happy!

"This, my little Jaybird, is a flame thrower. You'll see, you'll thank me later."

"I've seen what it is, _you jerk_ , I'm asking you why on earth are you trying it on me, when I'm in the shower?!"

Marinette looked at Roy and then Jason. She rolled her eyes. Then suddenly, she looked at him with a little grin.

"By the way, Jay... you'll never guess who just lost all our money at online poker..."

Roy widened his eyes.

**The little traitor!**

"Online poker? What are you talking about, girl?"

"I'm just saying we're going to " _eat_ " water for the rest of the month... You’re talking about going on a diet..."

Jason looked at the girl, then slowly turned his head towards him.

_Ah. Time to run._

-XxxX-

"Roy... I have a sudden urge to kill you."

"Jay, it's a GOLDEN JOB!"

"Yes. It involves going to Paris. You know, the city that _Minette_ can't possibly approach without experiencing a trauma?"

"We'll both just have to go!"

"Yeah... Of course... I'm gonna leave a 14-year-old teenager alone on an island for weeks without money or resources."

"Seriously guys... Why don't you just confess your feelings and go get married in a chapel?"

The two young men turned to the teenage girl, who looked at them with a bored look.

"You look like a couple of little old men arguing about their next vacation spot..."

Roy then turned to Jason.

"Jaybird."

"Roy, don't."

"Will you marry me?"

Jason facepalm.

**That guy was an asshole.**

Why'd he brings him here again?

"Jason. It's okay, we can go."

"No. This is a really bad idea."

"It's been a little over a year already... Besides, there's a place I'd like to visit in Paris."

"…"

"I can't run forever, and you know it. Then if it makes you feel any better, that terrorist would be completely stupid to attack now when the JL knows he exists. Besides, I'm legally dead, so..."

"He may have other ways to find you."

"If he did, he would have done it a long time ago."

"Mmm."

"And then... the "me" he knew and the "me" I am today are two different people. I told you, that girl's been dead a long time ago."

Jason looked at Marinette for a moment, and then sighed.

"All right, then. But you can't come with us just like that. You need a name... and a uniform..."

"Hm."

"I know!"

Jason and Marinette turned their heads to Roy.

"She just has to be... _Little Red_! No wait, I got something better, _Red Kid_!"

"…"

"…"

" What? Maybe you prefer _Little Bird_?"

"Roy... What am I to you exactly? A pet?"

"Of course not Mari Cutie! I just think it suits your personality. "

"It saddens me to see that it's not just your fashion sense that's disastrous..."

"What? What does my clothes style have to do with this?"

As they set off, they talked all the way to Washington D.C. about the famous "code name" that Marinette was to use, as well as her outfit.

**Washington D.C., Tara Battleworth's Office.**

Tara was a successful young woman. Her business was thriving, and the men she was about to test were promising.

Red Hood and Arsenal.

Two names that weighed in the business. If she could get those two guys... who knows what kind of interesting work she could get. The young lady was going to have to play it smart. They were promising, but they were also loud. But in her job as a "fixer", discretion was the main quality.

"Madam, your guests have arrived."

"Good, send them in."

His secretary let her guests in and then took his leave. She got up from her chair when she saw them enter. First surprise, it wasn't two people who entered the room, but three. And the third surprise guest was a kid! He had short blond hair. At least, that was what she could assume from the few strands of hair sticking out of his red hood. He was wearing a red and black hooded blazer. She couldn't see his eyes because they were hidden behind sunglasses. The kid was also wearing basic black pants with chains hanging from his belt. At his feet she saw military shoes. The brat had the audacity to loudly chew bubble gum. This was in stark contrast to the other two men in the room, who were dressed normally.

"Gentlemen, what's all this about?"

Arsenal was the first to speak.

"You were looking for people with talent, here we are."

"I see. And who are your companions?"

"I'm Red Hood. And this is my _lieutenant_ , **Scarlet**."

_Scarlet, huh._

That name was completely unknown to her.

"To solve the problems of the rich and powerful men in Washington, I need information. So I looked you up. I don't doubt your abilities at all, but are you capable of staying under the radar?"

Tara looked at Red Hood's infamous "Lieutenant". He was blowing a bubble with his gum.

"I didn't know you worked with brats."

"Hm. _Staying off the radar_ , huh..."

Her gaze turned to the famous "Red Hood". A dark-haired, blue-eyed young man, rather handsome. He had an amused little smile on his face. Tara raised an eyebrow.

"Am I to take it that you doubt our abilities, Miss Battleworth?"

"Not of yours, no."

"Then I suppose it's my abilities that you doubt?"

Tara heard a voice behind her. She was about to turn around but felt something cold against her throat. It was a knife.

Her whole body went into a shiver. She had the sinister feeling that if she moved a little finger, she was going to be killed. The young woman felt as if she were trapped by a snake that would strangle her at any moment.

But, who?!

Another person had gone in with them and she had not noticed?

It was at that moment that she noticed that the kid was no longer next to Red Hood. Red Hood was looking at her with a sly smile.

The kid behind her whispered softly in her ear...

"You should pay more attention to your environment Miss Battleworth, you never know **_who_** you're up against."

_That voice... a young girl?!_

She jumped off the desk, over her head, and landed gracefully next to Red Hood. He then spoke.

"If you've never heard of Scarlet, it's simply because **no one's been alive long enough to talk about it**."

He stroked the kid's head, dropping her hood. She had very short, boyish hair and was blonde with pale pink highlights.

"I told you they were good."

Tara then turned to Arsenal, who watched her with amusement. She quickly came to her senses and adjusted her posture. The young woman then opened a drawer from which she took out a file and handed it to Red Hood.

"Very well, then. I'll give you an audition. You will, of course, be compensated for your time."

They then discussed the procedure, and the various details necessary to accomplish their "mission". 

Throughout the discussion, Scarlet didn't utter a word. Instead, the young woman could feel her gaze piercing at her.

Only when her three "guests" left the room did she allow herself to breathe normally again.

She realized that she was shaking slightly.

How could _an ordinary child_ have caused such a reaction?!

**That same night, on a plane to Paris.**

Jason was looking at Roy who was practically having an asthma attack because he was laughing too hard.

"How much longer are you planning on croaking?"

"I'm s-sorry, Jay, but seriously! Ahahahahahahahaha! Did you see her face?! Ahahahahahaha It was... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHA, it looked like she was about to piss her pants!"

"Mmmm."

Jason turned his attention to Marinette. She had a headphone over her ears and was playing Mortal Kombat with a console. It was true that she had played her part perfectly.

_Who would have thought that the crybaby, cowardly little girl I ran into at Crime Alley would become my right-hand player...?_

-XxxX-

As soon as they arrived in Paris, they landed on the terrace of a small café.

"I don't want to die before I've had a chance to kiss at least one Parisian woman."

"Concentration Roy, we're here because of you."

"Jaybird, you're a killjoy. Take a lesson from Ma- OUCH!"

Roy had just gotten a kick in the knee from Jason.

" **Lucy.** Her name's Lucy, remember, dumbass?"

Marinette watched the two of them bicker as usual. Sometimes she wondered if she wasn't the adult in the group. She drank her hot chocolate, nostalgic. She knew this place. When she still lived in Paris, the young lady used to walk around the corner, sitting on this terrace with her old friends. She even took a picture with Kagami once, on the terrace of this little café.

She watched the people passing by in silence. Until something obstructed her vision. Marinette grabbed the file in front of her.

"It's all yours, Lucy."

"What's this?"

"The diplomat swiped a flash drive with classified information. The rest is in the file."

"Yep, you should've listened to _little bird_."

"Am I dreaming, or are you giving me **your job**?!"

"Since I know you weren't listening, I'm gonna be nice and say it again. It's an easy job. So Roy and I are going to take care of cleaning up around here instead. I've already prepared a little itinerary for us. In the meantime, you can take care of getting the damn flash drive. We're meeting tonight for a little dinner at the Eiffel Tower."

"Hmm."

Marinette did a quick perusal of the file.

"Mm-hmm. I almost feel insulted that I have to stoop to this."

"If you want to take it out on someone, complain to Roy."

"Hm. Roy, I demand compensation for the time I'll be wasting on this thing."

"Oh dear... You two have found each other!"

Marinette laughed heartily. Jason just smirk. The bluenette got up from her seat.

"Do I have any special instructions?"

"No, you have free hand."

"Okay."

The young lady left by her own, leaving the two men behind.

**Her first solo mission.**

It wasn't the time to remember the past.

**A few shots fired, many injured (no deaths) and a flash drive stolen later.**

Marinette was in front of three graves. The inscriptions on them are these:

"Here lies Tom Dupain, Exemplary Husband, Loving Father and Friend of the Buns."

"Here lies Sabine Cheng, Model Wife, Caring Mother and Wise Woman"

"Here lies Marinette Dupain-Cheng, beloved daughter, exemplary child and constant friend."

The bluenette laid flowers on the three graves. Then she joined her hands and closed her eyes.

She wasn't sad, she wasn't angry anymore.

But there was a feeling that she'd had for a little over a year now about all the people she'd known from her past, here in Paris: a great and deep disdain. 

Had she lost her soul that much?

"<Uh... Hi?>"

Marinette immediately opened her eyes and turned to the person who had just spoken to her.

Her heart missed a beat.

There in front of her was none other than **Adrien Agreste**.

His style had definitely changed. He was now even taller than she was. His blond hair was much longer. His style of dress looked like that of a rocker. The rebel look suited him very well.

_I guess the sweet little boy is now having his teenage tantrum. “Sweet” old Gabriel must have died of cardiac arrest._

The young man looked at the graves it had just bloomed. It was at that moment that the young lady realized that the blond man also had bouquets of flowers in his hand.

"<You... knew them?>"

_Well, well... Are you interested in the Dupain-Cheng family now? Does little Adrien have something to be ashamed of? Like, for example, being a **fake shitty friend**?_

Marinette smiles and chooses to use a strong Italian accent.

"<“Know” is a big word. They were friends of a friend of my mother's. Gina Dupain...>"

"<Marinette's grandmother.>"

"<So you knew them?>"

"<Yes... they were friends. Very good friends.>"

He laid the bouquets on the graves with great care. Marinette watched him. The way he behaved. The care with which he flowered the three tombs made her realize one thing.

**Adrien had regrets.**

The only thing she felt at that moment was **pity**.

Regret always comes too late.

Regret doesn't bring back the dead.

Regret keeps us stuck in the past.

_Regrets are useless._

And yet another feeling was struggling in her strong anterior.

**A feeling of gratitude.**

_So there's still at least one person who regrets Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her family..._

Marinette walked away discreetly, while the blond boy was lost in his thoughts staring at the graves. She felt her feline companion shaking in her jacket pocket.

"Everything all right, Plagg? Is something wrong?"

"Yep, I just thought I smelled cheese."

"Hmm. There's a bakery nearby, I'll buy you a camembert bread. We'll join the boys afterwards."

"Kid, you're an angel!"

Marinette laughed softly.

She did not see the tears that the Kwami let out of his eyes.

She did not see the suspicious look that the young blond boy threw behind her back.

Nor did she see the man with an eye patch who had seen the scene from afar, hidden behind a tree.

-XxxX-

A teenager was looking at his computer screen, satisfied.

Todd had wasted no time getting noticed. Better than that, the notorious **_murderer_** was with him and so was the incompetent Harper.

He closed his laptop with a simple gesture, then got up from his bed.

_Game on. The hunt begins._


	16. Scarlet Vs Robin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roy's a lovely idiot.  
> Marinette finds out the identity of someone she hates.  
> Robin finds Red Hood safe house.

**Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.**

Since they had a successful "audition" with Tara Battleworth. They had a lot of work to do. The pay was worth it. Marinette had officially become an accountant (that was Roy's job, but when Jason and Marinette realized that the redhead was a waster, the young lady had to quickly take matters into her own hands, with Jason's blessing).

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

The voices of Marinette and Jason reasoned simultaneously in the room.

"It's just publicity, guys... You know, in order for us to get a job, we have to make ourselves known..."

"You blew a million dollars on ads?!" [Marinette]

"Yeah, of course, and the only solution you've found is to put our heads on posters, so the whole world can see how discreet we are. You know, DISCRETE as in the essential quality of our job?" [Jason]

"Relax Jaybird, I-"

**CLICK.**

Roy realized that Marinette had just finished loading her Colt Python. She looked at him extremely angry. He's swallowing.

"Uh... _Marie Cutie_... You shouldn't play with that indoors; you might hurt someone..."

"Exactly. Exactly. Domestic accidents happen. It's so bad luck that shot went off."

"... Jaybird?..."

"Aim for the arms."

"Seriously?!"

Roy had to run away from the apartment.

-XxxX-

The bluenette loved Roy. He was fun, extremely smart, a great fighter and a wonderful friend. He was also a good teacher, because thanks to him, she knew how to handle alien technology.

**But he was also the biggest idiot in the universe!**

And of course after the said "mission in Paris", Roy had strangely disappeared.

Maybe the fact that she shot him multiple times had something to do with it?

She was seriously angry with him at the time.

That being said, she had deliberately kept her hands off him. At least the scene had the merit of making Jason laugh out loud.

The apartment had now fallen into a great silence. There was something that was very bothering Marinette. She decided to interrogate Jason.

"Jay... Why was Roy so keen on us being "freelancers"?"

"Nostalgia, I guess."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Before he was Arsenal, he was Green Arrow's sidekick."

"The guy dressed as Robin Hood?"

"Yep."

Marinette remained silent for a moment.

"He wants us to be heroes... right?"

Jason didn't answer. However, Marinette could tell from the way he had frowned that he was thinking the same thing as her.

Roy was like that. **A good guy.**

The bluenette respected him enormously. Alas... she was no longer a hero. The eurasian girl was aware that she had crossed too many lines to be considered a hero again. Ladybug was long dead. The young girl was sure that Jason was thinking the same thing. "Robin" was also long dead.

"Ladybug" and "Robin" had been consumed by the madness around them. From their ashes were born two people who no longer believed in humanity.

"Jay... I know he's your friend but... you should tell him... you know about... _our project_..."

"I know."

In front of Jason's scowling face, Marinette finally chooses to change the subject.

"What are we doing about this publicity thing? We can't work for Battleworth after that."

"Mmmm... How much do we have left?"

"More than enough. I secretly opened a bank account and deposited more than half of the money we won in Paris into it. The money Roy used came from some of the funds we recovered from those traffickers in Mexico..."

Jason sighed with relief.

"That's great. Don't tell Roy. God knows what he's going to want to lay on us again if he finds out we've still got money saved up."

"Copy that, Boss. Shall we order? I'm starving."

"I don't see why not. I think Roy won't be back until tomorrow morning..."

"I want to put him on a diet."

"That's a great idea, Minette."

The two looked at each other with a huge sarcastic smile.

**Three weeks later.**

Marinette was worried.

Jason had told her that one of his "brothers" was apparently dead. A guy named Dick Grayson. The dark-haired had insisted on going to his funeral alone. The bluenette did not agree, but still chose to respect his choice. Misfortune never comes alone. Batman was also declared dead less than two weeks later.

In spite of all that Jason could say, the young girl knew that her "sugar daddy", as Roy said, considered the Dark Knight as his father.

And now he was off to Gotham on a duo mission with Roy. A story with a villain named "Underbelly".

The damsel sighed.

She was in front of a computer screen watching video of a kitten on YouTube. Taking advantage of the fact that Roy and Jason weren't there, she had freed all the Kwamis from their jewels. Some were having fun testing several of Roy's inventions. Others like Plagg and Trixx were raiding the fridge. Others, wiser still, had chosen to watch television.

Marinette got up to prepare some food for her and her little friends when a news report on television caught her attention.

It was a new robbery committed by Catwoman and her new "disciple". Marinette didn't really care. At least until one of the Kwamis who was watching television, more precisely little Ziggy, the Kwami who looked like a little goat, pronounced a few words that marked a turning point in Marinette's life. 

"Oh... But it's Cat Noir!"

Immediately, all the Kwamis freeze on the spot. Marinette also froze.

_Huh? What?_

She approached the screen. Someone had indeed managed to get a picture of "Swiper", Catwoman's disciple, close enough. Judging by the quality of his pose, this guy was probably posing.

Marinette's blood froze for a moment. Ziggy was right. She'd recognize that feline look anywhere.

It was definitely him.

**It was that traitor Cat Noir.**

"Swiper is Cat Noir... that son of a bitch is still alive..."

Marinette bit her lip until it bled. It had been ages since the brunette had felt such a level of rage. Her whole body was shaking.

"Mistress... Please calm down. Get your head back in the game."

She recognized Wayzz's voice. The other Kwamis gathered around her, worried.

Against all odds, Marinette started laughing.

"It's perfect!"

"Uh?"

The Kwamis looked confused.

"I'm sure and certain that this traitor was working for Hawk Moth. If we capture him, we can find out the identity of this psychopath and FINALLY get Tikki back!"

_And I would have my revenge... I would make him pay for the death of all those poor people in Paris. But first, I would thank him properly. After all, I owe him my meeting with Jason._

The young girl wasted no time and immediately went to work. She had to find out everything she could about this Catwoman. This woman was supposed to be _his_ mentor just like Jason was to her. So that meant, if she went after that woman, then that stupid cat would probably come after her. And even if he doesn't show up, she could always question this Catwoman.

As she recalls, Jason told her this woman was Batman's favorite lover...

But since the Big Bat Boss was dead, there was no danger of him getting into her business.

_When the cats aren't around, the ladybugs dance..._

**Three days later.**

Despite all the anger Marinette might feel, and after the Kwamis' insistence that she should not make a hasty decision, the bluenette chooses to listen to her friends.

The young lady had spent the last three days practicing and reviewing everything she had already learned since living with Jason, but also what Roy had shown her about alien technology. She did everything she could to take her mind off the whole "Cat Noir" situation.

Marinette was waiting for Jason, to ask for advice.

_If I listened to myself, I would have already tracked down that alley cat, then captured that woman and tortured her in front of him for days._

She shook her head several times.

Nope.

Naughty Marinette.

She shouldn't have thought about it.

She should wait for Jason!

While she was pouring her hatred against a boxing bag, two Kwamis entered the room completely agitated and shouted.

"Mistress! Mistress!"

"There's someone lurking around our house!"

They were Barkk and Daizzi, respectively the Dog Kwami and the Pig Kwami.

This immediately put the young girl on alert. While changing as quickly as possible and taking up her weapons, Marinette questioned the Kwamis.

"Did you see what this person looked like? Or if he's with someone?"

"No Mistress, we preferred to come and inform you immediately."

The bluenette was loading her guns.

"Mini-bug, it's that guy with the black cape and the red uniform."

The eurasian girl looked at Plagg curiously.

"A red uniform with a black cape? I don't know any pers-................ Oh no.......... Shit!"

Marinette bit her lip. That was not good at all! If Robin was around, then the others couldn't have been far away either.

Why was Robin there? Marinette remembered perfectly the stories Jason had told her about the members of the Bat-Family.

" _Minette_ , if you ever run into Demon Spawn, I want you to run away."

"Who?"

"Robin. The demon from Hell who serves as Batman's son..."

"Okay... But why?"

"He's dangerous."

"What do you mean?"

"Minette, this kid was raised by assassins. He has no manners, no respect for anyone. He's an arrogant little brat who's got Batman's ear to the ground on everything. Once he decreed he'd kill all the former Robins to prove he was the best. I'll let you guess who was first on his list."

"…"

_Perfect, just perfect! As if I didn't have enough problems of my own, it took the most hostile member of the Bat-Clan to come looking for trouble just when Jay's not home..._

She quickly came to her senses. It was no time to daydream.

"Guys, each of you take your respective jewelry and go somewhere to hide. No matter what happens from now on, I forbid you to come out of hiding. Wait, for Jason. He'll know what to do. All right?"

The Kwamis nodded their heads in unison and performed without discussion.

Marinette put on her mask.

Then sighed softly to calm her nerves.

_Robin's probably here because of what happened in Mexico._

Jason had talked to her about it. Robin was apparently investigating these traffickers and did not appreciate being outsmarted by "criminals".

She sighed again.

It didn't matter why Robin was there. The fact was, he picked the wrong time. She was in a particularly bad mood and had no desire to get into a fight with a guy she barely knew.

Marinette opened her eyes again, then turned on.

_Well, game on. The hunt begins._

-XxxX-

Robin had finally found the traces of Todd and his two minions. It had cost him quite a bit of time and a few hours of sleep, but he had finally succeeded.

It was also a way for him not to have to think too much about the recent events that had completely ruined his life lately.

First that idiot Grayson decides to abandon him, now his father, who was also missing. He needed a distraction.

He needed to take his anger out on something.

The teenager's objective was very clear. He wanted to find out who was behind the identity of "Scarlet", Red Hood's accomplice to drag her before the police to make her pay for her crimes. Once he captures her, she'll be used as bait. Capturing that idiot Todd, and the other moron named Harper, is just a formality.

He knew that Red Hood and Arsenal had been spotted in Gotham... That meant they left that girl alone somewhere. He was particularly pleased to see that she had indeed been left alone in Todd's apartment.

The son of Batman approached slowly...

"Good evening, Robin."

The teenager immediately put himself on guard and turned around abruptly. In front of him stood the criminal he had been looking for, for several months. She was wearing a red hoodie. He could make out a few strands of black hair.

Her eyes were hidden by a black mask, while her nose, mouth and chin were covered by another red mask, which looked very much like the lower part of Red Hood's helmet. She was also wearing a black bullet-proof vest with a red skull and crossbones logo. Also, her lower body was hidden by black military plaid pants. There was also a belt, which allowed two firearms to be kept, one on the right and one on the left, and was certainly used to store gadgets. Finally black rangers with red soles completed the look.

"Looking for something?"

"TT, I don't have time to waste on useless discussions. I just want to know if you're the one who took out those people in Gotham, that guy near the dock and those men in Mexico."

"…"

Robin drew his sword.

"Where's the girl?"

The young vigilant carefully observed the reactions of his opponent. None of his questions made her react.

"I think you've got the wrong person, _monsieur_ Robin. I don't understand your questions. Why are you telling me about Gotham? What girl are you talking about? As for Mexico, believe it or not, I had nothing to do with it. Well, _almost_ nothing..."

"TT, since you don't want to answer, I'll just have to force it out of you."

"I have no desire to fight you. I really don't know what you're talking about, **_birdie_**."

"In Gotham, last year a whole neighborhood was blown to smithereens... There was a girl who was hurt and escaped with someone."

"Mmm. She was my sister. I'm sorry about the neighborhood. “ _She”_ really _didn't mean it_. She was a little... _desperate_ at the time."

Robin squinted. That story was strange. He was sure that this "Scarlet" must be the person responsible for the destruction of this part of Gotham, and probably also the murderer of Mexico. But he never found any trace of that girl he saw that night. This azure-eyed girl, wounded and terrified, still managed to give Nightwing a well-placed blow. 

"Where is she?"

" **Dead**. She was too weak, naive, stupid and good for nothing."

"…"

The teenager looked at Scarlet.

"You don't seem affected by her disappearance."

"Are you worried about bugs on your windshield?"

Robin gritted his teeth and attacked her head-on.

This Red Hood "partner" had just confirmed what he already knew: she was just a psychopath. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that she eliminated "her sister", assuming that this poor girl really was her sister.

"You're an assassin! No wonder that cheap bastard Red Hood is hanging out with you."

She dodged his sword with ease, while shooting him. Robin used his sword to fend off bullets. As he was about to wave his sword to avoid another bullet, Scarlet grabbed his wrist with one hand and pulled it towards her quickly and gave him several quick knee blows to his abdomen, causing him to drop his sword. Robin retaliated by giving her a headbutt to her face, making her move a few steps away. He then punches her again in the face to make her lose her balance and thus neutralize her on the ground.

However, she did not lose her balance as he had hoped. Conversely, taking advantage of the fact that her body was going backwards, she used her arms to make a back stand and kicked him in the chin with her foot.

He took a few steps back.

Robin had to admit, he underestimated this girl. What she had just done required a lot of strength in her arms, and her ability to take the blows and fight back showed that she was very well trained.

She threw herself at him.

This was followed by a series of violent punches, kicks and dodges.

The longer the fight went on, the more Robin couldn't help but admire her movements. He underestimated her, and not just a little bit. She wasn't just a girl who knew self-defense.

**That girl was a warrior.**

Her movements were precise, fast and of great power. But not only that, there was "something" that made him unable to take his eyes off her movements; he felt like he was dancing with her.

**Robin couldn't help but find her** _**graceful.**_

They ended up facing each other again. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at him. Then she decided to speak again.

"Am I just an assassin to you?"

"TT, what else do you want to be?"

"Why am I an assassin, Robin? Because you think I am or because someone told you I am?"

Scarlet approached him.

"I know the drill. I've been in your shoes, too."

The criminal then took an exaggeratedly high-pitched voice.

" _It's not right to take revenge, because we must give priority to justice and not revenge! So you see, your parents can be killed, the murderer can get away with it, but you, you mustn't prosecute him, because justice means putting him behind bars!"_

Robin's not saying anything.

"But you want me to tell you, Robin _dear..._ Justice and law are two different things. Are you saying I'm an assassin? Then what are you? Monsieur comes to lecture me while his hands are dirty? You know what, birdie? In the eyes of the law, you're no better than me!"

Scarlet lowered her arm. So her gun was no longer pointed at Robin.

"I'm not a psychopath, Robin. I am aware of my actions. I don't eliminate people because I enjoy it. The few times it happened to me was because I didn't have a choice in the moment. It was them or me."

Scarlet put the gun away on her belt.

"The world is not so black and white. He's not just gray either. There are other colours in the world. Men aren't just "good" or "bad." Hood and I... we think differently than you and Batman. I'll admit, sometimes we are brutal. But I won't let you say we're insane or just psychotic, because we don't think like you."

Robin still didn't move. He was just staring at her.

"And you know what? I'm not making you think like me. But don't come here with your big hooves lecturing me, as if you hold the supreme truth. Hood never made me team up with him. I made my own choice."

"You can put on great airs if you like, but deep down you're just hiding behind a pseudo-philosophy of life to justify your actions."

Robin didn't give a damn what that assassin thought. He was going to do what his father had never dared to do before: he was going to put an end to the little reign of terror of Red Hood and the two fools who accompanied him!

-XxxX-

The teenager sighed.

This conversation is going nowhere.

Robin wasn't there to talk, he wasn't listening. The only thing on his mind was to stop her.

_I wonder in the end, which one of us really has been brainwashed..._

Robin decided to attack her again.

She was ready to retaliate, but two arrows hit the ground, just between her and Robin.

**_The cavalry had arrived._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To say the least, it's far from love at first sight between those two...  
> They're similar, though, don't you think?


	17. Fighting Evil with Evil.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Red Hood receives an unexpected proposal.  
> Marinette makes a crucial choice.  
> In the shadows, the enemy may not be who you think he is...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suggest you read "Red Hood/Arsenal" Issue #4 and #5. 
> 
> I chose to keep the " gender " of the Kwamis from the French version. So Kaalki is a MALE! (Sorry, but if I have fun changing everything between the French and English versions, I'm not going to make it in my translations anymore).

Tim was genuinely on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Within a few weeks, his whole life had become a total mess. First Dick was killed, then his mentor disappeared.

In the wake of this tragedy, Cass decided to move to Hong Kong. Stephanie decided to go with her. Barbara was in total radio silence.

He had no idea where Kate could be.

He was left alone to deal with Gotham, Wayne Enterprises and.................... **Damian.**

The enormity of the task he was carrying out over the past few weeks had drained his body of all energy. But it was only three poor weeks. He felt like he hadn't slept in years... Tim couldn't take it anymore.

**He needed help.**

And Tim was convinced that Batman was still alive... Unfortunately, he needed time to find him, and he didn't have that.

He didn't like the idea at all. But faced with the catastrophic situation, with Gotham going insane, he needed a radical solution. At least, time for him to find a solution for both Blüdhaven and Gotham. Then to find a solution for Wayne Enterprise as well, because no one could know Bruce was missing.

**Tim needed to find Jason.**

Bruce would have probably sent him over the edge if he had made that kind of suggestion when he was there. But the situation was so chaotic in Gotham that an equally chaotic solution was needed.

Tim had heard about Red Hood's new partner. He was sure that Bruce had started looking into this girl... That kid was a disruptive force. Just like Bruce before him, he'd been trying to find information, but hadn't found anything. Jason was probably behind it.

Before he died, Dick had talked about Jason's strange behavior at the mention of the young girl. Jason had introduced this girl as "his sister". He was attached to her enough to let her work with him and even live by his side. If he didn't know she was a kid Damian's age, Tim could swear that Jason had actually found himself a _girlfriend_.

_I'll find out once I meet her. Let's start with finding Jason first._

-XxxX-

Jason looked at the monster at his feet with some disgust. That thing looked like a " _Muk_ ". Perhaps the creator of Pokémon had taken inspiration from this creature to create those things.

The young man was sincerely glad he hadn't brought Marinette with him. Especially when he saw that a fake Batman had already replaced Bruce. The little one had already made quite a splash lately, she had to stay off the radar a bit more.

While the fake Batman who was still on the stage was going, Jason grabbed Roy and ran off the stage. Caught by surprise, the fake Batman couldn't keep up with them.

He let go of Roy.

"Dude, you know I can run by myself, right?"

"No time for that crap. We need to get home immediately."

"Red... The kid's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"I got a bad feeling."

"Seriously Jay, it's only been a week... What do you want to happen to her? As time goes on, the more of a _daddy hen_ you become, I hope you realize that."

"…"

Jason walked back up as if nothing had happened. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that Marinette was in trouble.

Roy followed suit, clearly exasperated by his behavior.

"And of course, the fact that you _never_ _left her alone for that long_ did not influence your "bad feeling" at all."

"Roy, shut up and move on."

Suddenly Jason felt a presence.

Red Hood stopped dead in his tracks.

Arsenal had stopped as well.

They looked around.

"There you are, Hood, you know you're not easy to find, don't you?"

Jason sighed.

That kid was the last person he wanted to see. He had to get home fast; he didn't have time to waste with the Bat-family.

"Replacement. What's the displeasure?"

"Hood, I need to talk to you, do you have a moment?"

"No."

"Hood, it's really important."

"What I have to do is just as important."

"Isn't the girl with you?"

"None of your business."

Roy came over and pushed Jason aside.

"Don't mind him Timmy, he's just having a hard time getting used to the idea of letting his kid live her life."

"I can see that. I guess you'll be going home to join her."

"Roy, when we get home you can help _my daughter_ with her shooting practice. She'll be happy to have a new target."

"Nope, last time didn't end well for me. I still have the scar from her last " training" session."

"Pfft. Coward."

As one surprise never comes without another, Red Robin pulled out his Bo and gave a hard blow behind him. He then did a back flip. As a reflex, Jason pulled out his weapons and Arsenal pointed an arrow with his bow.

Right where Red Robin had been earlier, there was now a figure. Someone who definitely shouldn't be there.

A young lady, wearing a long black cat-eared hood, walked towards the three men. Jason lowered his weapons.

"Jaybird, do you know this person?"

Roy as usual couldn't keep his mouth shut. The replacement on the other hand was looking carefully at the newcomer.

It wasn't good at all.

"What are you doing here, _Lady Noire_?"

"Mistress Lucy, is being attacked as we speak by Batman's son..."

Jason recognized the voice as Trixx's. This meant that this " Lady Noire" was an illusion.

The young man glanced over to the boy next to him. He frowned, even though his helmet didn't show anything. Jason felt his blood boil.

What gives this brat the right to attack Minette like that? If he had a problem, all he had to do was come and tell him face to face, no need to involve his little girl in the story!

"Is that why you wanted to talk to me, _Timbo_ , to keep me here long enough for _Demon Spawn_ to come after **my partner**?"

"Jason, I assure you, I have no idea what this... " Lady Noire" is talking about."

Lady Noire approached until she was up to the task.

"Master, something terrible has happened. Mistress is not in her right mind. If the fight goes on any longer..."

"Understood. I guess _he_ 's here too?"

"You’re right."

"Jaybird, seriously, what’s going on, who is this girl and who is she talking about?"

"Later Roy, we gotta go help _Lucy_ first."

He turned to Red Robin.

"Feel free to come along. If I ever find out, you had anything to do with this…"

Red Robin doesn’t say anything. He just nodded up and down to indicate that he understood the situation. 

A portal opened just behind Lady Noire. Once the gate opened, she disappeared. As Jason had already figured out, _Kaalki_ couldn’t have been far away.

Jason entered the portal without looking back.

It was a completely confused Roy and a completely intriguing Red Robin who followed him.

**That same night, 3:00 a.m., Jason, Roy and Marinette's living room.**

"Then he attacked me, and I fought back."

"I see."

"Mphhh-Mmmmmmmm-MMMMMMM!"

Marinette was sitting on the living room couch with a cup of hot chocolate in her hand, while Robin was tied up like a sausage next to her. In front of her were Jason, Roy and another guy the girl didn't know. According to his uniform, Marinette could tell it was "Red Robin". In other words, Jason's replacement.

The lady was genuinely surprised. When Jason talked about that boy, he always seemed angry. It was extremely surprising that he was in the company of someone who annoyed him so much.

Marinette must have been staring at Red Robin without realizing it, because Red Robin cleared his throat.

"I'm truly sorry for my _little brother_ 's actions. He's a little... _on edge_ right now."

"Okay, well... I'd appreciate it if in the future, he takes _his nerves_ out on _someone else_."

"Yeah, of course.

An uncomfortable silence settled in.

Unsurprisingly, Roy was the first to break the silence.

"Okay. Now I want an explanation. Who is this Lady Noire? Where did that gate come from?! Why was she calling Lucy "mistress"?! What's going on?!"

Marinette frowned.

"You have seen... Lady Noire?"

Jason looked at her for a moment before answering.

"What can I say? " _Your sister_ " is very resourceful. She came to warn us that Demon Spawn had invited himself without permission. She brought your “ _brother”_ with her. For once, it's a good thing _they're out_ there _free_ and clear."

"Lucy, you have _siblings_ and you never told me about them?"

"…"

Marinette didn't answer anything. At her side, she could feel Robin staring at her. She quickly finished her drink and put it on the table in front of the couch.

"I'm going to bed."

The young lady saw that Roy was going to protest, but Jason crushed his foot, making it clear that this was not the time to talk to her.

She nodded her head towards Red Robin to say goodbye. Red Robin did the same. But before she left, she turned around one last time, just this time looking directly at Robin.

"You think you're better than me because you live _under the shadow of Batman_... But I can tell you one thing. **You have the same smell as me."**

The bluenette left, this time without a glance back, leaving the three men in the room in utter confusion.

Robin remained strangely calm after her departure.

**The next night.**

"Stay in Gotham?"

"That's right. The brat wants someone to take care of Gotham while he's out looking for Batman."

"I thought Batman was dead."

"The kid's convinced he's not."

"And so are you, if you agree to help him."

"Hmm. I haven't accepted yet, and I can't see the old man getting shot down that easily. So what do you say?"

Marinette looked at Jason for a moment, then looked out her bedroom window, pensively. Should she talk to Jason about it? Should she tell him what she found out about Swiper? She had decided to listen to the Kwamis and to wait for Jason's return before making any decision.

Marinette wanted to kill Chat Noir.

Their stay in Gotham would undoubtedly help her get closer to her prey. Could she really do that? If Red Robin had come, entrusting Gotham to Red Hood was because somewhere... he trusted him, didn't he? Wasn't she jeopardizing the tenuous trust Jason's family placed in him?

And then staying in Gotham meant having to work with Robin, didn't it? She wasn't sure that she really wanted to see him again. On the other hand, it would be fun to put him in his place...

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I don't know, Minette. But if you're worried about our plan to eliminate the terrorist from Paris, you don't have to worry. As soon as we finish this job in Gotham, we're going to France, and we're not leaving until that guy gets his head chopped off and hangs from the top of the Eiffel Tower."

Marinette smiles at Jason.

"All right. I trust you, Jay."

"Actually, Trixx said something happened while we were gone. Are you sure you're okay?"

"It's nothing... just Plagg and Xuppu eating our entire food supply, you may have noticed. They did it several times this week, I wanted to eradicate them from earth..."

Jason laughed heartily. Then he kissed her on the forehead.

" I don't know what Demon Spawn told you, but, don't pay attention. That kid has a binary view of the world. Kind of like his father..."

"I've noticed that. He just gently told me I was a psychopath and a criminal who needed to be stopped at all costs. I think he also said you were an incompetent at one point."

"Oh? Well, he was _pretty nice_ about it, which is surprising of him."

"I can't wait to see what happens when he's _"bad"."_

They both started laughing out loud.

After Jason left her room, Marinette went back to bed.

Plagg immediately came out of hiding. He was the only Kwami who had not returned to the new Miracle Box Marinette had made.

"I ate the food supply, huh..."

"Plagg, I'm not in the mood for your sarcasm."

"I just hope you're aware of what you just did."

"You know my plan, Plagg. Feel free to stop me."

"Far be it from me to stop you from **committing murder** , kid. It's not as if the idea of _eliminating_ all former Miraculous holders is completely _psychotic_ and just confirms what the kid with a cape told you."

"…"

"I told you once, I'm telling you now, so you'll keep it in mind. **I won't stop you**. I am the god of destruction, chao is my nature. _Never forget that the choices you make today determine who you are tomorrow._ If you are willing to pay the price for your choices, who am I to stop you? It would be a considerable waste of energy... I could eat so much cheese in the meantime..."

"Plagg... Tikki would be disappointed in me, wouldn't she?"

"Completely."

"…"

"Tikki is optimistic and naive, you are the cartesian type, Mini-bug, it's not a good mix. Besides, **Marinette's dead** , you're **Lucy**."

"I've lost my soul that much?"

"I assume that's a rhetorical question?"

"…"

Marinette closed her eyes. She had no desire to continue this conversation.

So she did not see the psychotic smile of the Kwami of Destruction, nor the evil aura that surrounded him.

-XxxX-

Damian and Tim had quietly returned to Gotham...

As soon as they arrived at the Manor, each left for their respective rooms.

Tim had some papers to prepare for WE, a report on his last meeting with Jason and some research about this "Lucy" that Jason had collected.

Damian on his side took a good shower. Then he went to his bed, opened his computer and started new research. He was sure that "Lucy" wasn't this girl's real name. However, during their exchange, she had leaked some important information.

The girl's parents had been murdered and the assailant had gotten away with it. Obviously, if she had stayed with Todd, it was because she wanted revenge on the murderer of her parents. Todd was familiar with the subject matter of revenge. No wonder the two of them got along so well.

Second, she had a "sister" and a "brother." This "sister" was probably the one responsible for the incident in Gotham... And was likely the person who helped Todd escape from the criminals who had imprisoned him. The "brother" was the one who created the diversion so Todd's partner could escape. The "sister" would have a destructive capacity, while the brother would have a teleportation capacity. So the big question now was this: Did "Lucy" also have a special ability? And then, he wondered about the real connection between this " Lady Noire " and Lucy. You don't call your own sister "Mistress".

Who was really Lucy?

Thirdly, he was almost certain that the girl he saw hurt that day with Richard, was this "Lucy". Now that his head was clearer, he thought the girl seemed to consider her former "personality", which she had described as "weak, naive, stupid and good for nothing," as "dead."

Damian was far from an idiot; he was sure he recognized Nightwing's fighting technique. This girl was also using some League of Shadows assassin moves. In other words, Todd trained her. So, "Lucy" must have been the "personality" that came out of it. Kind of like how he went from "assassin" to "Robin" under his father's tutelage.

_"The world is not so black and white. He's not just gray either. There are other colours in the world. Men aren't just "good" or "bad." Hood and I... we think differently than you and Batman. I'll admit, sometimes we are brutal. But I won't let you say we're insane or just psychotic, because we don't think like you.”_

Damian shook his head several times.

Maybe this girl wasn't as bad as he first thought. Maybe she wasn't as incompetent as he had originally assumed.

_"You have the same smell as me.”_

What did she mean when she said that?

His mind wandered for a few moments. He remembered their struggle. The way her body moved with agility and precision.

Damian was certain that this girl hadn't fought him seriously.

What would happen if she fought him thoroughly?

A shiver ran through his whole body.

**He wanted to know.**

-XxxX-

Lurking in the shadows, a certain mercenary watched events from afar **, with great interest**.

Who would have thought that by accepting _this_ contract, he would have stumbled upon such a rough diamond?

This young lady had _enormous potential_. She could become **his successor** without any problem.

Perhaps she could even surpass him if he gave her _the same treatment_ **he** had received?

**All he had to do was _push her_ in the right direction.**

The man smiled under his mask.


	18. What I can't tell you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear of telling the other person how we feel can lead to complicated situations.   
> Marinette makes a decision that could change everything.  
> Robin makes a huge mistake...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I want to apologize for the long wait. Unfortunately, I'm extremely busy, and it's not going to get any better with time. As a result, my publications will become even more irregular than before.   
> I thank everyone who continues to read this story. If it wasn't for you, I would have given up long ago... ^^"

“You're a murderer, Red Robin proves his incompetence once again by letting psychopaths like you into this town!”

“Fuck you, Robin! We killed NONE! You want to talk about incompetence? You had ONE thing to do and you managed to fuck it all up! If there's a bastard here, it's you!”

“Don't kill anybody? Don't kill anybody?! Besides being crazy, are you also stupid?! Did you see the state of these guys? They won't make it out alive!”

“They won't? And whose fault is that? Because monsieur thinks he's better than everyone else, we had to improvise! And just so you know, these guys are alive. If the doctors in Gotham are incompetent, it's not my problem.”

Red Hood sighed.

Why did he agree to help his replacement in the first place?

It wasn't like he wanted to see Bruce again. In fact, he had now moved on. He didn't care what Bruce thought of him at all. If he was alive or dead, it really wasn't his problem anymore.

Now he was forced to protect Gotham with two kids who didn't get along at all.

It had been almost a month since he had moved to Gotham with Roy and Marinette.

Damian was still unbearable, and Marinette had probably decided to fall to his level.

It had become almost an obligation. As soon as these two were on a case together, they spent their lives arguing. Robin refused to acknowledge them as partners. It was absolutely not awkward. Jason didn't need that kid's approval.

Marinette was no longer a little girl who let herself be stepped on. She wasn't being taken in and refused to just listen to Damian's nonsense in silence.

Jason was taking a lot out of him, not just to get rid of Damian in good faith. Unfortunately, he had made a promise, a promise not to kill. So he took his pain in patience. He wanted to show Marinette that keeping your word was important.

“Robin had a total crush on Lucy.”

Jason looked at Roy next to him.

“...Seriously?”

“I'm serious, Jay! Some guys are aggressive with the girl they have a crush on, it's a bit of an aggressive pickup technique but-“

“Well, in that case, Robin has a huge crush on _Red Robin_.”

“And then... Wait what?”

“He tried to kill him several times.”

“…”

“Now that you understand how enormously stupid you are, help me separate them.”

Jason walked towards the two teenagers, while trying to royally ignore this uncomfortable feeling that was growing in his gut.

This feeling of discomfort growing inside him, at the thought that Marinette might one day abandon him for "another one".

After all this time spent with the bluenette, he cared about her as a member of his family. He didn't want to lose her; he didn't want her to abandon him.

And yet that was what she could do if she found out that he knew secrets about the Paris incident, and he didn't tell her. She had a right to know that her "Master" had been killed by a man he knew well enough.

A dangerous man.

A man who was in Blüdhaven, according to the replacement, who had asked for reinforcements the day before. Which meant he was potentially a few hours away from them.

Deathstroke was only a few hours away from his precious partner.

_Sorry replacement, I'm too selfish to keep my promise._

He had to find a way to incapacitate Deathstroke long enough to keep Marinette safe.

He was going to have to leave her with Robin for a while.

_Forgive me, Minette, I hope you don't hate my guts._

-XxxX-

Plagg was eating his camembert on Marinette's bed.

The bluenette was worried.

The kwami cat was changing his color. He was completely black with green eyes. Now he had sky blue eyes. His ear and his cat tail had turned white.

“Plagg... You are not _Michael Jackson_... How can you change your colour?”

“You don't like me, Mini-bug?”

“That's not the point, Plagg.”

“Don't you get it? I'm just a reflection of your own image, Tiny-bug...”

“W-What?”

“If a guardian is evil, then the Kwamis under his protection gradually become evil as well. That is all.”

“You're telling me, it's my fault?”

“Yes.”

“So... the other Kwamis?”

“Yep, they're changing too.”

“I've become evil, huh...”

“No.”

“Plagg, seriously...”

“Kid, you're neither "evil" or " nice", _you're just you_.”

“What does it mean?”

“You'll understand on your own, like a big girl, when the time comes.”

“…”

The Kwami ignored her completely after this exchange.

Marinette lay down on her back and stared at the roof of her room carefully.

She put her headphones over her ears and listened to Clara Nightingale's song over and over again. It was the song that the young singer had composed especially for the heroes of Paris.

_Another day, I don't know why_

_He looks my way and I get so shy_

_So insecure, all in myself_

_Till someone says they need my help_

Listening to this song, the bluenette wondered if Clara didn't know her identity. It sounded so much like "Marinette Dupain-Cheng".

Even if she wanted to with all her heart, this feeling of inferiority and shyness hadn't completely left her. Lately, she felt like she was becoming the stupid, weak and useless Marinette again.

All because of that **damned Robin**.

_Oh oh oh, oh yeah they'll never know,_

_Oh oh oh, cause I'm unstoppable,_

_Oh oh oh, and when it's time to go,_

_That's when I become..._

Marinette closed her eyes.

She was no longer a hero. That was a fact.

She had blood on her hands. That too was a fact.

She was physically stronger. Another fact.

When the bluenette was around Jason, it was like nothing could get to her anymore. They were unstoppable, **together.**

_Miraculous, simply the best,_

_Up to the test when things go wrong_

_Miraculous, yeah, I got this,_

_I gotta confess, I feel so strong_

There was a time when a superhero costume made her stronger.

Today, it was carrying guns that made her invincible.

She had lost her soul, hadn't she?

Was that so bad?

Maybe that annoying Robin was right?

Maybe she had just become a psychopath?

_I'm watching him, he looks at me_

_We know our names, not our identity_

_He's super cool, he's really fast_

_And he knows how, how to make me laugh_

Marinette had done much worse when she was "in love" with Adrien. She had to admit that she was still quite obsessed.

Yet, while listening to this verse, she couldn't help thinking about that stupid Robin.

The memory she had of him was this cool guy who had tried to help her last year. In fact, that cool guy was the biggest jerk on the planet!

What was his problem with her?

They didn't know each other at all!

That being said...

She didn't give a damn whether Robin liked her or not. 

She just needed Jason.

_Oh oh oh, he's got me spinning 'round._

_Oh oh oh, my feet are off the ground._

_Oh oh oh, and when it's time to go,_

_That's when I become..._

Yet deep down...

She wanted to have another friend her own age.

The bluenette didn't want to completely close her heart.

She wasn't an insecure little girl anymore.

She was still able to socialize with people around her... Right?

_Miraculous, simply the best,_

_Up to the test when things go wrong_

_Miraculous, yeah, I got this,_

_I gotta confess, I feel so strong..._

You had to be honest...

She felt helpless.

What was happening to Plagg wasn't normal. But she was afraid to talk to Jason. Marinette could handle anything.

She didn't care that she was homeless.

She didn't care if she got hurt.

She didn't care about killing.

She didn't care about death.

She didn't even care about the Miraculous. (Basically... If they were gone, it wouldn't make much of a difference to her life. Besides, the Kwamis are immortal. If the jewels are broken, they'll just return to their spirit form, and in the end, it wouldn't be any worse. At least they wouldn't suffer anymore).

But there was one thing she couldn't stand.

It was the thought of losing Jason.

Was he going to hate her for not telling her about the " Black Cat" case?

Was he going to hate her for killing his old partner? Making him break a promise to a member of his "family"?

Marinette sighed for the umpteenth time that day.

_Forgive me, Jason... I'm too selfish to follow through on this stupid promise to a guy dressed as a pigeon who calls himself "Red Robin."_

The lady then turned to the kwami cat.

“Plagg. I take it you can't tell me the name of your former holder, right?”

“Uh?”

“The name of your holder.”

“Nope, I can't say anything, even if you force me.”

“I see... I guess confronting Wayzz won't do any good either?”

“Oh, but you can, Tiny-bug.”

“I guess there's a “but”?”

“Well... no Kwamis will ever trust you again if you force their hand.”

Marinette sighed.

She couldn't go hunting for Cat Noir with that jerk Robin on her back all the time... Besides, Jason would notice something right away. He knew her too well.

The bluenette got up and went to wash her face in the bathroom. Looking at her reflection, Marinette realized how much she had changed.

Then her gaze was drawn to something in her reflection. There was a red spot on her chest.

That was the moment she remembered.

**The _Kwagatama_ that Tikki had given her!**

_What if..._

An idea came into her mind.

An extremely dangerous and risky idea, but...

If it ever worked, then she'd kill two birds with one stone!

She hurried back to her room and took the box of Miraculous in her hands.

Plagg watched her do it. A sadistic smile appeared on his face. His left paw turned white as well.

Things were getting more and more interesting.

**The next night, Paris, 2:00 AM.**

Swiper looked at the book he was holding in his hands with satisfaction.

He had finally managed to retrieve the Miraculous Book from his father's house. Swiper had been preparing for this moment for several months. He had hoped to be able to retrieve the Miraculous of the Butterfly as well, unfortunately his father always had it with him. Swiper did not want to risk being discovered by his father. He could have had the help of Selina and the girls, but that included telling them the truth about his life. Telling them about the Miraculous and his life as a hero, which he wouldn't do.

As much as he loved Selina, Harley and Pamela, he didn't trust them enough to tell them such an important secret.

So he lied about many aspects of his life. Like telling the girls that his father had actually been obsessed with him since his mother's death because he looked like her. That he had tried to abuse him... _several times._ Oh, and that his father was also a necrophiliac and kept his mother's body in their basement (which was true...). Selina immediately took pity on him and took him under her wing.

She had promised to help him get revenge.

Swiper had started by saying that he wanted to recover some precious items that had belonged to his deceased mother. Therefore, he had now succeeded in recovering the Miraculous Book. He had insisted on doing it alone, it was a challenge to himself.

Swiper had pulled it off.

He was going to be able to find Selina and the girls to celebrate with dignity.

_Soon, my lady... very soon, we will be reunited._

Because soon, with the girls' help, he would finally be able to kill the bastard that was his father. And regain his entire fortune, which was rightfully his.

He could then officially say that Adrien Agreste was dead.

Suddenly, he felt a shiver run down his spine. He abruptly turned around.

There was no one there.

Strange.

The blond boy continued on his way, as if nothing had happened.

As the blond boy walked away, a silhouette appeared. She looked like a little girl. Her hair was red with a black streak on the front. She had ladybird wings, wore a little black dress with matching shoes. Her eyes were completely blue, without any pupils. On the top of her skull there were two small antennae.

She smiled.

Her mistress had given her three missions. The first was to take care of a certain "Lila Rossi" and to "pay her back a hundredfold". The second was to get rid of all the former Butterfly akumatics and to make everyone forget about the subject "Miraculous". The third was to find " Cat Noir " and to discover his identity.

Who would have thought that finding his last target would be so easy?

She had carefully placed a tracer on the young thief. He could go anywhere he wanted; she would always find him.

She quickly flew away from the scene, and immediately set out to find her first target.

She had an Italian girl to hunt.

She would do everything to satisfy the demands of her precious mistress.

It was her role as sentimonster, after all.

-XxxX-

It was official.

As soon as Red Robin returns to Gotham, Robin will kill him.

What was the idea of leaving Todd in charge of watching over the city?

It had only been a month, and Todd had already found an excuse to leave town! He was supposed to have an emergency. To make it worse, he took Harper back with him.

**Robin was left alone with “Scarlet” to watch over Gotham City.**

Batman's son couldn't stand her.

She was competent. He couldn't deny that. But he clearly hated her haughty attitude. She disrespected him, refused to follow his orders and always got in his way.

Robin wouldn't admit it. However, circumstances forced him to admit it.

He missed Grayson terribly.

At least if he had been there, he would have just assumed the role of Batman. Todd would never have come back to Gotham... Red Robin would have stayed with the Teen Titans.

Everything would be so perfect. Just him and Grayson...

But reality was different from fiction.

While on patrol alone on his own, he was joined by Red Hood's insufferable "partner".

Since Todd was letting this girl freewheel and do whatever she wanted... He took the liberty of handling her case himself.

Changed all the bullets in his guns to blanks.

Robin had arranged for Todd to give her the guns so she wouldn't be suspicious.

There was now no chance that this psychotic would seriously hurt anyone.

Robin stopped abruptly on a rooftop, ready to send "Scarlet" to hell. However, when he saw her face, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Scarlet looked abnormally pale.

Robin frowned.

Was this idiot intending to patrol when she wasn't in full possession of her abilities?

“What the hell are you do—"

He didn't have time to finish his sentence, the girl collapsed in front of him. Surprised, he approached. Robin realized Scarlet was bleeding.

Batman's son rushed to her side and helped to apply pressure to the wound. It was clearly a bullet hole.

How could it be?

“What happened?!”

“B-Black... M-Mask... m-m-my... magnums... didn't work... trap...”

She coughed up blood.

Robin suddenly grew pale.

He never imagined that his "initiative" would cause this result.

It was definitely not what he wanted.

He didn't like this girl, but he never wanted her _dead_.

_Damn it!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a quick recap seems interesting at this point.   
> From chapter 1 to chapter 13: We mainly focus on the Jason & Marinette relationship. (I should have made a series, but well, what's done is done ^^")  
> From chapter 14: Beginning of the "Damian x Marinette" relationship.  
> There will be one last arc after the "Damian x Marinette" stage.


	19. Mnemosys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Presentation of the most dangerous character of this AU.   
> Place to Mnemosys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter is particularly cynical.
> 
> Mention of psychological torture.
> 
> Mention of suicide.

**This scene takes place just after Adrien steals the Miraculous Book.**

**Paris, 2:15 AM.**

Mnemosys.

That was the name given to her by her mistress.

She was particularly proud of it.

"Look, Izzy, the Eiffel Tower!"

"Mnemosys."

"Uh?"

"Me, Mnemosys."

"Mnem... What?"

The sentimonster sighed.

That bluebird was particularly annoying. She didn't care about anything. She just wanted to have fun all the time. If she wasn't being useful for spotting humans, Mnemosys would have gotten rid of her.

Mnemosys looked at the human's apartment. That one here was called Lila Rossi. She was the first on her mistress' list. According to Duusu, this human was an old classmate of her mistress.

She had no idea what "classmate" meant. All she knew was that his teacher had given him specific instructions: All names written in red had to suffer. Names written in blue, should have only their memory about the miraculous erased. Names written in black must die.

She also had to erase the existence of "Marinette Dupain-Cheng" and replace it by that of another person: _Bridgette Chang_. The history of her parents would be rewritten. In this new story, the couple "Dupain-Cheng" would never have had a child but would have accepted to take in their niece "Bridgette Chang". The poor child would have died from an accident in middle school, which would never have been explained (for the moment).

Finally, she had free rein in the way she would get rid of the "pests".

This resulted in the following list:

**Name in red:**

Nino Lahiffe, Chloé Bourgeois, Alix Kubdel, Kim Lê Chiến, Sabrina Raincomprix, André Bourgeois, Audrey Bourgeois, Rose Lavillant, Nathaniel Kurtzberg, Max Kanté.

**Name in blue:**

Paris.

**Name in black:**

Lila Rossi, Black Cat, Alya Césaire, Adrien Agreste, Garbiel Agreste, Nathalie Sancoeur, Felix Graham de Vanily, Amélie Graham de Vanily, Caline Bustier, Damoclès.

The sentimonster had therefore begun by erasing the memory of all Parisians on all matters concerning the Miraculous. That was the easiest part. Those who had been akumatized would never remember being akumatized. Those who had received Miraculous, outside of the red or blacklist, would not remember either. These memories were replaced by the image of a terrorist who called himself "Hawkmoth".

Mnemosys then began by asking herself: How do you make your victims suffer? How to eliminate the enemies of her mistress in a way that would give her full satisfaction?

The Kwami next to her was flying from right to left, giggling like an idiot. A psychotic smile formed on the face of the sentimonster. This stupid bird was finally going to be useful to her.

-XxxX-

Lila Rossi was a girl who had clearly succeeded in life.

She was breaking into the world of modeling, thanks to the support of Gabriel Agreste. On the social networks, she was admired, adored and cherished.

This was the life she wanted.

It was the life she deserved.

Earlier in the day, she had received good news: a foreign modeling agency wanted to hire her as their ambassador for a luxury perfume brand.

It was the contract of her dreams.

That's why she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

Yet, in the middle of the night, she woke up with a start.

The young Italian girl had a strange feeling. She, who was in such a good mood, suddenly felt extremely sad. Then she started to shake.

All of a sudden, her mind was filled with horrible memories. Lila saw herself being massacred by several people. She felt like she was suffocating.

Then the beating stopped, and when she opened her eyes, her body was shaking. In front of her were all the people she had once manipulated. Several of these people had committed suicide. Others had fallen into severe depression.

They all had one thing in common: they had refused to worship her, to venerate her as the queen that she was.

They all had a huge smirk on their faces. She began to hear voices.

**_"Hi Lila, we promised you, remember? We promised we'd come back for you."_ **

Lila didn't understand why, but she couldn't move because she was paralyzed with fear.

This kind of behavior wasn't her.

She wasn't afraid of anything.

These people were mostly dead. Why was that her problem?! All they had to do was stand at her feet like everyone else!

Lila started having trouble breathing, she was suffocating.

Her heart was beating extremely fast in her chest.

Suddenly, she had strange memories. She hanged herself. Lila could swear that she felt all the pain. Then she was thrown in front of a train. Again she felt all the pain. But alas, she couldn't scream, it was as if someone was stopping her. She felt as if someone or something had their hand over her mouth.

Lila heard insults towards her, she felt like she was being kicked. Several times she felt like she was drowning, like she had a bitter taste in her mouth.

Someone was holding her head in the toilet water.

Lila felt like screaming, when she felt her fingernails being torn off.

She didn't know how long her agony would last. But she was in pain everywhere.

Lila was crying and sobbing.

**It wasn't normal.**

Then she finally manages to scream.

Lila woke up with a start. She sighed with relief. It was just a stupid nightmare.

However, something was wrong.

She wasn't in her bedroom, but in the living room of her apartment. Lila looked at her hands and uttered a scream of horror.

Her hands were bloody. There was blood all around her, on her clothes. There was a knife beside her.

What had happened?

Lila heard a huge "boom" coming from her entrance.

She screamed in terror.

"POLICE! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!"

"W-What?!"

Without being able to understand what was happening to her, Lila was handcuffed.

"This is a mistake! What the hell are you doing?! Why are you arresting me?! Do you have any idea with whom you're messing with?!"

"A serial killer, caught in the act."

"WHAT?!"

One of the cops started telling her her rights.

To Lila's amazement, the police took Alya out of her mother's room.

Alya was simply unrecognizable.

Part of her head had been shaved. She was bleeding profusely and had spectacular wounds. Some of the marks looked like burns. Her face was swollen, as if someone had used her head as a punching bag.

When Alya saw her, she began to cry.

"Lila... So... Did you get caught, too?"

Lila was speechless. She honestly didn't know how to react. What was going on?

Alya was immediately taken care of by a medical team. She screamed at the doctors that they had to help Lila. She was injured as well.

But no one listened to her.

Lila was taken to the police station. She struggled, screamed, and yelled, but the police refused to let her go.

She was stunned to discover that her neighbors had called the police because they heard screams coming from her apartment. Lila also discovered that she was charged with the murder of five people and attempted murder of three others.

She felt her blood freeze when the police presented her with pictures of her so-called "victims". Lila recognized each person.

They were all people to whom she had "declared war", and who had lost miserably to her.

Lila demanded to have a lawyer, to see her mother. She had diplomatic immunity! These people couldn't arrest her like that!

"Miss Rossi, your diplomatic immunity has been taken away from you a very long time ago. Your mother is the one who asked for it to be removed. Don't you remember that?"

"Don't remember what?! But why?! It can't be true!"

The policeman in front of her looked at her in disgust.

"You were admitted to a psychiatric hospital last year Miss Rossi, at that time your mother asked for your immunity to be taken away. It's only been a week since you were released."

Lila was in shock, what was that all about?!

Then that's when she saw her.

There, standing behind the policeman was Marinette, who was looking at her with a huge smile on her face. This bitch was laughing at her! How could she have done such a thing to her? How long had she been back in Paris? This little moron was supposed to be dead!

"Marinette! This is all your fault!"

She got up at one end. She wanted to catch Marinette to teach her a lesson. She quickly got herself under control.

She screamed, again and again.

**Lila fell off her bed.**

She was breathing with difficulty. Her heart was beating strongly in her chest.

It was... Just a dream?

She looked around her. This time the Italian girl was in her room.

However, her whole body began to shake when she realized that the walls of her room had been covered with the word's "liar" and "murderer".

Then a little girl crossed the wall of her room. Her hair was red with a black lock of hair on the front. She had ladybug wings and was wearing a small black dress with matching shoes. Her eyes were completely blue, without any pupils. On the top of her skull there were two small antennae.

Lila screamed.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?! **GO AWAY**!"

The little girl, or creature, started laughing uncontrollably.

Lila, terrified, came out of her room and rushed to her mother's room. In her greatest terror, her mother's bed was bloody. This horrible creature had murdered her mother.

The Italian woman grabbed the cell phone (belonging to her mother) that was on the bedside table in the room and called the police.

When the police arrived on the scene. They searched everywhere and then turned to Lila to seriously reprimand her.

"Miss, this kind of hoax can have serious consequences!"

To Lila's amazement, her room was untouched. Then she remembered that she no longer lived with her mother. There was no one in the second bedroom of that apartment.

Lila began to hear laughter.

She saw Marinette again in her apartment, looking at her with a smile on her face. Lila screamed in fear, startled all the police officers present.

**Lila woke up again.**

This time, when she saw the strange creature appear in front of her, the young lady screamed and without thinking, jumped out the window to escape from the demonic creature.

She had just forgotten one detail: **she lived on the fifth floor of her building.**

-XxxX-

Not far away, out of sight of everyone, a silhouette was silently observing the scene. The police had been called.

Mnemosys had taken care to put all the notebooks where Lila wrote down her ideas to get rid of her " rivals ", prominently on her bed. The sentimonster had taken care to write down the computer's password.

This girl was so disturbed that she kept some of her former victims' things as a trophy.

With all this, the kingdom of lies created by this plague would come to an end.

Her companion at her side was nervously agitated. Their eyes met. They smiled at each other.

**They had managed to eliminate _a pest_ from the list. **

Suddenly, a portal opened behind the duo, Mnemosys turned quickly, ready to attack.

The bluebird started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh? Kaalki?! How's it going little brother? Oh? why are you here anyway? Mistress wants to congratulate us, right? hihihi I'm so happy!"

The companion of the crazy bird calmed down immediately. But she was confused. The _pet_ of their mistress should not be there. It was not in the plan!

"Duusu I have no time to waste with your insane prose. I want you to come back immediately something has happened to Marinette."

The horse's Kwami received only a nod in response from his two listeners. He teleported immediately.

"Mission! Mission! Youhouhouhouhouhouhou!"

Duusu began to fly joyfully around the head of his companion. She didn't waste any time and set off.

**The life of her mistress was on the line.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mnemosys is the sentimonster of vengeance. Its main capacity is to be able to manipulate memories. However, it has other abilities. First of all, it has the same abilities as a kwami, namely, it can fly, float, pass through matter and cannot be detected by technology. It is immortal.
> 
> Mnemosys can also create illusions and can morph. It possesses superhuman strength, its five senses are more developed than those of humans.
> 
> Above all, it is devoid of morale, empathy, remorse. The only person that matters to her is Marinette. And she will do anything for Marinette.


	20. Point of no Return?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plagg has a plan.  
> Marinette takes her revenge.  
> Jason is about to find out the whole truth. 
> 
> Their fate is sealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT:
> 
> I want to apologize to my readers.
> 
> But from now on, it won't be a "Daminette" Fic anymore.
> 
> Let me explain!
> 
> When I first started writing this story, I was in the ship "Marinette x Damian". I also wanted to contribute to the expansion of the fandom.
> 
> This is absolutely NO longer the case today.
> 
> I still love "Maribat" stories, but I no longer feel like writing about "Daminette" at all. The proof being, that I have created much more stories with other ships than "Daminette"...
> 
> My ideas for this story have evolved. Rather than forcing myself to put two characters together (which I don't like to see together anymore...), I prefer to let my imagination run free.
> 
> By writing these words, I feel like I am betraying those who have been reading this story from the beginning. I am deeply sorry for this.
> 
> But I prefer to be honest with myself, as well as with you.

Mnemosys waited patiently in the living room of her mistress' apartment. She could see the spirits stirring around her. The news of his creator's injury had had the effect of a bomb for the Kwamis.

"What are we going to do without Marinette? She- She's the last guardian..."

"Don't talk about her as if she were dead!"

"Did you hear Kaalki?! Someone shot her in the stomach! How do you expect her to survive that?! Damn it, her organs must all be-"

"STOP! NO! DON'T SAY IT I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!"

"Stop, please!"

At her side Duusu looked at the scene, worried. They looked at each other for a few moments. It was not good. They couldn't afford to lose their mistress now, not when they had soon accomplished their missions!

Suddenly, a gate opened in the middle of the room. A body fell heavily to the ground.

Her mistress had a gaping wound in her abdomen. The panic only increased. At least, until Wayzz went through the portal and asked everyone to be quiet. As usual, the god of protection took matters into his own hands.

"I know the situation is serious my brothers and sisters, but we must not panic."

"Do not panic? Do not panic?! Wayzz, Marinette is dead!"

"First Nooru, then Master Fu and now Marinette? What are we going to do?"

Those remarks were made by Xuppu and Mullo. Respectively Kwami of jubilation and Kwami of multiplication. Wayzz closed his eyes for a moment, as if not to lose his cool in front of the other Kwamis. Plagg chose this precise moment to speak. He began to speak in a perfectly calm voice.

"Sass, Fluff, it's up to you."

"I beg your pardon?"

"What?"

The eyes of the Kwamis turned to Plagg, intrigued. Their brother Kwami was no longer himself; he was clearly corrupt. All the Kwami were suspicious of him now.

Wayzz reprimanded him immediately.

"Do you have any idea of the madness you are asking for?! We have no right to intervene in time. We do not have the right to use our powers without a holder. We did it last time only to protect Marinette."

"Yes and look where it got us."

"..."

Plagg sighed. Then looked at the body of the girl on the ground.

"This girl has given us more freedom in one year than all our holders and guardians put together. I love that freedom. I like to do what I want to do without having to be afraid to take orders from my holder. And most of all, I like being treated as an entity and not just as a weapon."

There was a great silence. Wayzz was clearly angry.

"How dare you –"

"Wayzz, you were chosen to be at the side of the Guardians as their right-hand man. You have always stood alongside the humans. You, who has always been free, how can you understand how we feel? We who only have the right to a semblance of freedom when we are weapons in the service of causes, we know are lost."

"..."

"We will be corrupt... But isn't that a small price to pay? This little girl can give us what we all have always wanted. We can be free."

Whispers began to be heard among the Kwamis. Some agreed with Plagg. They liked the freedom Marinette had offered them. She treated them as if they were human. Others, even though they understood what Plagg was saying, remained skeptical. Indeed, Marinette was no longer in her right mind.

"Without a Guardian, we are at the mercy of humans."

"We... we can still have another Guardian!"

"Wayzz... are you thinking about my former holder?"

"He's changed, but there's still good in him, Plagg."

"Hmm... Do you want to entrust our jewels to this _little coward_?"

"What do you mean?"

Plagg looked sad.

"It's time my brothers, that I tell you what happened between me and my wearer."

Plagg then told them how Adrien had ignored him. How Adrien had done nothing to help Marinette. How he ignored the abuse, how he was continually obsessed with Ladybug.

"Unfortunately, my memories of what happened on the day Paris was destroyed remain hazy. But I am certain that I saw Hawkmoth that day. Do you know what it means? My holder gave me as a gift to our enemy."

Several Kwamis screamed in horror. Wayzz was visibly horrified.

A heavy silence settled in the room.

Finally, in a trembling voice, Wayzz turned to his brother Fluff.

"Fluff, what do you think? You're the only one among us who can verify what Plagg said."

The rabbit kwami was silent for a moment, then closed his eyes. All the other Kwamis stared at him, waiting for his answer.

"Hmmm. The holder of Plagg will use the Miraculous to make a wish. This will cause the death of all humanity."

"...I see... And Marinette?"

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........ Plagg is right....... _in the long run_."

In other words, Marinette will return to the "right path", but it will take time...

Sass spoke next.

"I will follow Plagg."

One by one, the Kwamis pronounced themselves on the question.

The idea of Plagg was accepted by the great majority, except for Wayzz, Ziggy and Daizzi.

"However, one problem remains. I cannot "go back" in a moment of time that I don't know."

"Hmmmmmm... I can help. If we merge our powers..."

"You're thinking too hard for nothing... My brothers, my sisters... let's just use the sentimonster."

Wayzz looked at Plagg horrified.

"Plagg, have you lost your mind?!"

"What? This sentimonster is faithful to Mini-Bug."

Mnemosys had watched the whole scene in silence, while remaining faithful to the body of her mistress. If there was a chance to save her precious mistress, then she would do it without the slightest hesitation.

And it didn't matter the price.

So she got up, and walked towards the Kwamis, to signify her agreement.

"Mnemosys, will do."

The Kwamis talked among themselves again for a long time. Then finally, Sass and Fluff gave her their respective jewels.

Plagg looked at the whole scene satisfied.

His new protégée would be saved, and more importantly, _all Miraculous would become as corrupt as he was._

**What more could one ask for?**

The Kwami cat smiles.

**[A week back in time.]**

The radio was on. Only a song could be heard, as if the world had stopped for a melody.

_There's a memory of how we used to be_

_That I can see through the flames_

Marinette was in her room. It was partially destroyed as a result of her anger a few moments earlier. Her hands were bloody, the result of cuts from pieces of glass on the floor.

She had passed away.

She was dead.

Put down completely.

By a stupid bullet!

**And all because of Robin.**

Why was she still there then?

Simple.

In the future, she had the presence of mind to let all the Kwamis free to watch over her safe house while she was away. She then realized that Plagg had not lied to her.

The Kwamis were all changing.

Wayzz now had his shell completely red. His eyes had turned red. Pollen was turning dark blue, his eyes were now also red. Trixx also had part of her coat that was turning sky blue.

Duusu was not present, she was accompanying Mnemosys to help her accomplish her mission. (A sentimonster she had apparently created to take revenge on Paris and the Black Cat. Marinette had then chosen to let her. She would have her revenge without even lifting a finger).

In other words, the original Kwamis were changing to the opposite color of the chromatic circle.

The other twelve Kwamis of the zodiac were not in better shape. These Kwamis were guided by the principle of balance. This balance itself represented by Tikki the Creation and Plagg the Destruction. They were Yin and Yang. Therefore, each Kwamis of the zodiac were either on the "Yin" side or the "Yang" side.

Thus, Sass, Fluff, Strompp, Daizzi, Orikko and Ziggy, representing the "Yang" side of the Miracle Box were turning black. Conversely, Longg, Roaar, Mulo, Barkk, Xuppu and Kaalki were becoming white.

**The balance of the universe was being disturbed.**

And the funniest part of the story?

**Marinette didn't care.**

_I am hypnotized as I fantasize_

_Forgetting lies and pain_

_But I can't go back..._

She looked at her hand for a moment.

Gotham.

The city that had done so much harm to her Jay.

It was also the city where she had met him.

The city of crime, the city of Batman.

The city that almost devoured her as well.

**_The ashes call my name!_ **

What was left of the innocent heroin?

Why was she fighting so hard?

Why did she stay alive?

For revenge of course.

But sometimes... Heavens... _She just wants to forget everything._

If she gave up her quest, and just wanted to live a "quiet" life with Jay.

Then Robin reminded her of an important lesson.

**This world was filled with nothing but scum.**

_Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

_Breaking the habit and melting the chains_

_Embracing the fear_

_Chasing the fight_

_The glow of the fire will light up the night_

_The bridges are burning, the heat's on my face_

_Making the past an unreachable place._

The past yes, indeed, it was for the bluenette something she didn't like to remember. That time when she was not free to make her own choices, when the world seemed like a long, quiet river.

Despite all the criticism the young girl could make at that time when she was still living in Paris with her parents, there was one truth that bothered her.

_Pouring the fuel, fanning the flames_

**_I know!_ **

She took a deep breath.

The truth... The one that Marinette repressed deep inside herself.

**She missed that time of innocence.**

However...

**_This is the point of no return!_ **

Marinette lay gently on the floor in the middle of the debris and broken glass because of her broken mirror.

_It's uncontrollable_

_Such a beautiful desire_

The young lady smiles softly, lulled by the lyrics of the song.

_There's something sinister about the way it hurts_

_When I watch it burn._

_(Higher and higher)_

All the training she had received so far had not been in vain. Marinette's life with Jason meant something to her. She was a Guardian, and even though her methods were unorthodox, she was fulfilling her role. She protected people.

**_Because I can't go back..._ **

She had been in much worse situations than this one.

She wasn't dead yet. There was hope.

**As long as the heart was beating, there was hope.**

**_The ashes call my name!_ **

Tears were flowing gently down her face. She sang softly.

**_ This is the point of no return! _ **

Marinette was certain of only one thing at that moment: Robin was going to pay dearly.

Then someone walked into her room.

"Marinette? I heard some ... What the hell?! Are you bleeding?!"

Marinette got up nonchalantly. Oh yes, indeed, she had forgotten that Jason had technically stopped going to Blüdhaven to do who knows what with Roy. He was still in the apartment.

Jason rushed at her. He mumbled something that she couldn't really understand.

He left for a few moments, then came back with a first aid kit. She must have had a few stitches. The brunette hadn't realized how deep her wound was. This being the case, she didn't give a damn.

"Ok, now I want some explanations Minette. What happened to you? You've been acting strange for several days. What's wrong?"

"..."

Marinette looked at Jason for a moment.

She hesitated.

Should she talk to him about it? Would Jason believe her? After all, even though Robin was a big jerk, he was still Jason's brother.

Marinette looked at her hands, which were bandaged. She decided to give an answer, without daring to look her only true friend in the eye.

"I... just had a nightmare. _Really realistic_..."

She didn't look at Jason, but she knew he didn't believe her. She decided to change the subject quickly.

"Why did you come to see me?"

"..."

When no answer was forthcoming, Marinette finally looked up.

"Jay?"

Jason was staring at her. The bluenette was unable to tell what was going through Jason's mind at that moment.

He was supposed to go to Bludhaven. It was the night he told her that she was going to have to be alone with Robin for a while.

That would give her all the time she needed to pay Robin back.

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to go out for dinner, but I think I'll just order a pizza."

"... Hhmmm..."

Jason got up out of bed and made a motion to leave.

"Jason..."

He turned around to look at her.

"Thank you, for the bandage."

_Thank you for respecting my silence._

"You're welcome."

He left this time for good, leaving her alone in the room.

**The same evening, Marinette shot Robin.**

-XxxX-

Jason was extremely worried.

Marinette was not in her normal state. She had tried to kill Robin.

Jason knew that Marinette and Bruce's son didn't get along, but he hadn't realized that his little protégé hated the kid so much that she tried to eliminate him. If Roy hadn't stopped her, she would have emptied the barrel of her gun on Damian.

**It didn't make sense.**

Marinette was emotionally unstable; Jason readily admitted this. He wasn't a stable person either. However, she was far from being a lunatic or just a psychotic freak.

She wasn't the kind of person who would start a fight for free. Marinette would only kill if she had no choice, as a last resort.

Damian was going to be okay. He had still been shot in the shoulder. He would have died if Roy hadn't been around...

Jason had decided to confine Marinette for the time being. And specially to protect her because his _replacement_ was ready to dump her on Arkham. Who would have thought that the replacement cared so much about Damian?

Roy was also of the same opinion as Tim. At that moment, Jason was sincerely relieved that he hadn't told him about the Miraculous.

"Jaybird, I adore Mari, I really do. But what she did tonight was completely free. I know the brat is unbearable, but I can't believe she shot him!"

"Hmm."

The young man didn't listen to him. He was too concentrated staring at the floating cat who was also looking at him with a little smirk on his face.

Jason was sure that Plagg was supposed to be black with green eyes. The cat he was seeing had one blue eye and one green eye, and most importantly, it was completely white.

He saw the cat move towards the door and then disappear.

Jason got up immediately.

"Jason! Did you at least listen to what I told you."

"Roy, if Minette shot Damian, it's because he probably deserved it."

"W-What?"

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to do."

Without giving Roy time to shoot back, he left the room taking his jacket.

As soon as he found himself in front of the entrance, he heard the door behind him slam. It was the door to the stairs. Jason walked to the stairs and went upstairs. He soon found himself on the roof of the building. He blocked the front door to make sure no one came to disturb him.

Jason came face to face with... the _creature_.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me, _Bad Boy_?"

"You're not Plagg."

"I am, Bad Boy. Just... an upgraded version... Hihihihihi."

"..."

"You want to know what happened to the _little buggy_? ~"

"..."

"I've used to know you as a more combative brat."

"What did you do to Marinette?"

"Maybe you should ask what **you didn't do** , _Brat_."

Jason was confused.

"What were you going to do in Bludhaven?"

The young man frowned. How did the woodlouse know that he had originally planned to go to Bludhaven?

" _Jason_. Answer my question. Based on your answer, I will decide whether you live or die."

A sort of purple smoke came out of the white cat's body, forming two butterfly wings on its back. The cat's gaze was piercing. Jason understood that the creature was not joking.

"I wanted to verify some information."

"What was it?"

"Deathstroke may have been seen in Blüdhaven."

"And that's supposed to be important for what reason?"

"Because he's the one who killed the previous Guardian, and he's after Marinette."

The purple butterfly wings disappeared.

To Jason's surprise, the white cat turned black again. Only its eyes remained heterochrome.

"WHAT?!"

"..."

The cat, now back to black, began to twirl in the air, completely agitated by what he had just learned.

"So that means you wanted to protect her, uh. _That's an interesting difference_."

"Plagg... What's going on?"

The cat stopped and looked at him. It seemed hesitant, and Jason was now sure it was the _old house bug_ that was in front of him.

Could mini gods also have a split personality?

The cat of destruction sighed.

"Before answering your question, I need to know one last thing. Who told you that the former guardian was killed by this _Deaththing_?"

"Wayzz."

" _Tsssss._ And then I'm the one who can't be trusted."

The black cat crossed his little paws on his chest.

"All right kid, I'll tell you what happened. But know this, you might hate Mini-Bug after that."

-XxxX-

Mnemosys was satisfied.

She looked at the body at her feet with a smile.

She had managed to save her mistress and had almost completed her mission. All this in record time!

But before dealing with the Agreste family, the last names on her list, Mnemosys had something to do.

When she had collected the memory of her mistress, Mnemosys realized something interesting. The book that Chat Noir had stolen that night was very important to her mistress. So Mnemosys decided that she was going to get the book back and return it to her precious mistress.

"Izzy... I'm not sure that's a good idea... Marinette didn't ask us to take this book..."

"You be afraid. Why?"

"I am not afraid! I just think... it's a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very bad idea!"

"You hiding something. What is it?"

"Nope~ Not at all... I just don't want you to go to a naughty lair that's all."

"Mnemosys knows you being with Hawkmoth before. Mnemosys not fear."

Despite the bird's protests, Mnemosys entered the house of the Agreste.

She searched everywhere. It was finally Duusu who showed her where the book was. Mnemosys grabbed the book and was about to leave. But she felt a presence behind her.

The sentimonster turned around slowly.

"Well, what do we have here? It's been a long time, Duusu."

"HEY! Mr. Agreste! You look great! ~"

Mnemosys knew who that man was.

He was the decay responsible for the misfortunes of her precious mistress.

**She had found Hawkmoth.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song used for the fic:
> 
> Point of no return - Starset


End file.
